RACE    ADJUSTMENT 


m 
en 


RACE    ADJUSTMENT 


ESSAYS  ON  THE 


NEGRO  IN  AMERICA 


BY 


KELLY   MILLER 


SECOND  EDITION 


NEW    YORK    AND    WASHINGTON 

THE    NEALE    PUBLISHING    COMPANY 

1909 


- 


Copyright,  1909,  by 
THE   NEALE   PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


TO 

AN   AWAKENING    RACE 

Struggling    Upward   from  Darkness   Through 

Twilight 

into  the  Fuller  Day 


Oof 


PREFACE 

Several  of  the  essays  here  listed  have  previously 
appeared  as  magazine  articles,  or  in  separate  pam- 
phlet form.  The  reader  must  not  expect  to  find  a 
consecutive  logical  treatise,  nor  a  settled  solution  of 
the  race  problem.  The  author  will  be  satisfied  if 
these;  papers  serve  the  less  ambitious  purpose  of 
flashing  gleams  or  even  glints  of  light  upon  a  dark 
and  indefinite  background. 

The  reader  will  notice  the  recurrence  of  phrases 
and  sentences  in  several  of  the  chapters.  The  aim 
has  been  to  preserve  as  far  as  practicable  the  integ- 
rity of  the  several  essays  originally  prepared  for 
widely  different  occasions,  at  the  risk  of  occasional 
overlapping. 

Kelly  Miller, 

Howard  University, 
Washington,  D.  C. 


KEY-WORD 

"  We  continually  oscillate  between  an  inclination 
to  complain  without  sufficient  cause  and  to  be  too 
easily  satisfied.  We  have  an  extreme  susceptibility  of 
mind,  an  inordinate  craving,  an  ambition  in  our 
thoughts,  our  desires,  and  in  the  movements  of  our 
imagination;  yet  when  we  come  to  practical  life, 
when  trouble,  when  sacrifices,  when  efforts  are  re- 
quired for  the  attainment  of  our  object,  we  sink  into 
lassitude  and  inactivity.  Let  us  not  be  invaded  by 
either  of  these  vices.  Let  us  estimate  fairly  what  our 
abilities,  our  knowledge,  our  power  enable  us  to  do 
lawfully,  and  let  us  aim  at  nothing  that  we  cannot 
lawfully,  justly  and  prudently — with  a  proper  respect 
for  the  principles  upon  which  our  social  system,  our 
civilization,  is  based — attain."  — Guizot. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Radicals  and  Conservatives 3        l 

As  to  the  Leopard's  Spots ">30 

•*  An  Appeal  to  Reason  on  the  Race  Problem    .  >59~ 

%  The   Negro's   Part  in  the   Negro   Problem      .  90      Vt 

v  Social  Equality ;  ^111 

">  The   City   Negro 121 

Religion  as  a  Solvent  of  the   Race  Problem.    135     ^ 

^     Plea  of  the  Oppressed 154   -a*"' 

The  Land  of  Goshen •.  156     ^ 

Surplus  Negro  Women 171    ^ 

Rise   of  the   Professional  Class        .      .      .      .  181    ,\ 

—  Eminent    Negroes          188  \ 

What  Walt  Whitman  Means  to  the  Negro     .  201  |-j 

Frederick  Douglass 213;^ 

Jefferson   and   the   Negro 223  #jf 

The  Artistic  Gifts  of  the  Negro     ....  234  )  U 

**  The  Early  Struggle  for  Education      .      .      .  246  / 
•*    A   Brief    for    the    Higher    Education    of    the 

Negro 259  / 

"*•    Roosevelt  and  the  Negro ^276  *  9 


. 


UNIVERSITY 


RACE  ADJUSTMENT 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES 

When  a  distinguished  Russian  was  informed  that 
some  American  Negroes  are  radical  and  some  con- 
servative, he  could  not  restrain  his  laughter.  The 
idea  of  conservative  Negroes  was  more  than  the  Cos- 
sack's risibilities  could  endure.  "  What  on  earth," 
he  exclaimed  with  astonishment,  "  have  they  to  con- 
serve? " 

According  to  a  strict  use  of  terms,  a  "  conserva- 
tive "  is  one  who  is  satisfied  with  existing  conditions 
and  advocates  their  continuance ;  while  a  "  radical  " 
clamors  for  amelioration  of  conditions  through 
change.  No  thoughtful  Negro  is  satisfied  with  thp 
prrrirnt  ptntm  of  hin  vnrr}  whether  viewed  in  its  po- 
litical, its  civil  or  general  aspect.  He  labors  under 
an  unfriendly  public  opinion,  one  which  is  being 
rapidly  crystallized  into  a  rigid  caste  system  and 
enacted  into  unrighteous  law.  How  can  he  be  ex- 
pected to  contemplate  such  oppressive  conditions 
with  satisfaction  and  composure?  Circumstances 
render  it  imperative  that  his  attitude  should  be  dis- 
sentient rather  than  conformatory.  Every  consider- 
ation of  enlightened  self-respect  impels  him  to 
unremitting  protest,  albeit  the  manner  of  protesta- 
tion may  be  mild  or  pronounced,  according  to  the 
dictates  of  prudence.  Radical  and  conservative  Ne-_ 
groes  agree  as  to  the  end  in  view,  but  differ  as  to  the 
most  eiiective  means  of  attaining  it.  The  difference 
is  not  essentially  one  of  principle  or  purpose,  but 
point   of  v^fw.^  AH   anti-slavery   advocates   desired 


14  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  downfall  of  the  iniquitous  institution,  but  some 
were  more  violent  than  others  in  the  expression  of 
this  desire.  Disagreement  as  to  method  led  to  per- 
sonal estrangement,  impugnment  of  motive,  and  un- 
seemly factional  wrangle.  And  so,  colored  men  who 
are  alike  zealous  for  the  betterment  of  their  race, 
lose  half  their  strength  in  internal  strife,  because  of 
variant  methods  of  attack  upon  the  citadel  of  preju- 
dice. Mr.  Booker  T.  Washington  is,  or  has  been, 
the  storm-center  about  which  the  controversy  rages, 
and  contending  forces .  have  aligned  themselves  in 
hostile  array  as  to  the  wisdom  or  folly  of  the  doc- 
trine of  which  he  is  the  chief  exponent.  The  un- 
seemly "  Boston  Riot,"  in  which  he  was  threatened 
with  bodily  violence,  served  to  accentuate  the  antag- 
onism and  to  deepen  the  line  of  cleavage. 

Several  years  ago  a  number  of  New  England  col- 
ored men,  "  exotics,"  as  some  would  say,  of  the  New 
England  colleges,  having  grown  restive  under  what 
they  deemed  the  damaging  doctrine  of  the  famous 
Tuskegeean,  founded  the  Boston  Guardian  as  a 
journal  of  protest.  These  men  declared  that  the 
teachings  of  Mr.  Washington  were  destructive  of 
the  guaranteed  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Negro 
race,  especially  in  the  Northern  States,  and  pledged 
themselves  to  spare  no  effort  to  combat  his  political 
and  social  heresies. 

Mr.  William  Monroe  Trotter,  a  Harvard  gradu- 
ate, who  is  said  to  have  maintained  a  higher  scholas- 
tic average  than  any  other  colored  student  of  that 
famous  institution,  was  head  and  front  of  the  new 
movement.  As  promoter  of  the  "  Boston  Riot  "  he 
was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  the  common  jail. 
His  incarceration  but  served  to  intensify  his  ani- 
mosity. 

Mr.  Trotter  is  well  suited  to  play  the  role  of  a 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      15 

martyr.  He  delights  in  a  reputation  for  vicarious 
heroics.  Being  possessed  of  considerable  independ- 
ent means,  he  willingly  makes  sacrifices  for  the 
cause,  and  is  as  uncompromising  as  William  Lloyd 
Garrison.  Mr.  Trotter,  however,  lacks  the  moral 
sanity  and  poise  of  the  great  emancipator.  With 
him  agitation  is  not  so  much  the  outgrowth  of  an 
intellectual  or  moral  comprehension  of  right  and 
reprehension  of  wrong,  as  it  is  a  temperamental  ne- 
cessity. Endowed  with  a  narrow,  intolerant  inten- 
sity of  spirit,  he  pursues  his  ends  with  a  Jesuitical 
justification  of  untoward  means.  Without  clear  con- 
crete objective,  such  as  the  anti-slavery  promoters 
had  in  view,  he  strikes  wildly  at  whatever  or  whoever 
he  imagines  obscures  the  rights  of  the  Negro  race. 
He  has  the  traditional  irreverence  of  the  reformer,  an 
irreverence  which  delights  to  shatter  popular  idols. 
President  Eliot  of  Harvard  University,  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  and  Booker  T.  Washington  are  shining 
marks  for  his  blunt  and  bitter  denunciation.  He 
sets  himself  up  as  the  moral  monitor  of  the  Negro 
race.  This  Negro  Puritan  is  of  spotless  and  austere 
personal  character,  and  yet  he  does  not  scruple  to 
use  the  weapons  of  unrighteousness  to  promote  his 
cherished  hopes.  He  is  equally  indifferent  to  the 
allurements  of  culture  and  the  blandishments  of 
business ;  he  has  sacrificed  a  business  career  which 
was  opening  up  with  large  prospects,  in  order  to 
fight  the  Washington  heresy.  A  Harvard  graduate, 
with  a  class-standing  that  puts  him  easily  in  touch 
with  the  intellectual  elite  of  his  alma  mater,  he  has 
thrown  away  all  the  restraints  of  culture,  spurned 
the  allurements  of  refined  association,  and  conducts 
The  Guardian  with  as  little  regard  to  literary  form 
and  style  as  if  he  were  a  back-woodsman. 

By  his  blunt,  persistent  assault  on  Booker  T,  Wash- 


16  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

ington  he  has  focalized  the  more  radical  elements  of 
the  Negro  race,  and  has  made  himself  the  most  force- 
ful personality  that  the  Negroes  in  the  free  States 
have  produced  in  a  generation.  He  is  irreconciled  to 
his  great  foe.  This  intrepid  editor  saw  clearly  that 
the  so-called  radical  Negroes  were  wholly  wanting  in 
organization  and  leadership.  He  chafed  under  the 
chide  of  having  no  concrete  achievement  or  com- 
manding personality  as  basis  and  background  of  his 
propaganda.  His  enemies  sought  to  silence  the  loud- 
some  pretensions  of  those  of  radical  persuasion  by 
the  cry  that  they  had  founded  no  institutions  and 
projected  no  practical  projects.  That  the  same 
might  have  been  said  of  Garrison  and  Phillips  was 
regarded  as  a  barren  rejoinder.  It  is  difficult  to 
found  an  effective  organization  on  a  protest.  There 
is  little  constructive  possibility  in  negation.  Through 
the  influence  of  The  Guardian,  Mr.  Trotter  has  held 
together  and  inspirited  the  opposition  to  Mr.  Wash- 
ington. His  every  utterance  leads  to  the  Cato-like 
refrain :  "  Booker  Washington  must  be  destroyed." 
Conscious  of  his  own  lack  of  attractive  personality 
and  felicity  of  utterance  requisite  to  ostensible  popu- 
lar leadership,  Trotter  began  to  cast  about  for  a 
man  of  showy  faculties  who  could  stand  before 
the  people  as  leader  of  his  cause.  He  wove  a 
subtle  net  about  W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  the  brilliant 
writer  and  scholar,  and  gradually  weaned  him 
from  his  erstwhile  friendship  for  Mr.  Washing- 
ton, so  as  to  exploit  his  prominence  and  splendid 
powers  in  behalf  of  the  hostile  forces. 

The  author  of  the  "  Sou^of  Black  Folk  "  is  also 
a  Harvard  man,  and  possesses  extraordinary  scien- 
tific and  literary  talent.  Few  men  now  writing  the 
English  language  can  equal  him  in  linguistic  felicity. 
He  is  a  man  of  remarkable  amplitude  and  contrariety 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      17 

of  qualities,  an  exact  interrogator  and  a  lucid  ex- 
positor of  social  reality,  but  withal  a  dreamer 
with  a  fantasy  of  mind  that  verges  on  "  the  fine 
frenzy." 

Dr.  DuBois  began  his  career,  not  as  an  agitator, 
nor  as  a  carping  critic  of  another's  achievements, 
but  as  a  painstaking  investigator  and  a  writer  of 
remarkable  lucidity  and  keenness.  The  men  who 
are  now  extolling  him  as  the  peerless  leader  of  the 
radicals  were  a  few  years  ago  denouncing  him  bit- 
terly for  his  restrained  and  reasoned  conclusions. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  conceive  how  the  author  of 
"  The  Philadelphia  Negro  "  could  have  penned  the 
"  Second  Niagara  Movement  Manifesto,"  without 
mental  and  moral  metamorphosis.  When  DuBois 
essays  the  role  of  the  agitator,  and  attempts  to. 
focus  the  varied  energies  of  his  mind  upon  a  concrete 
social  emergency,  it  is  apt  to  result,  as  did  his  "  At- 
lanta Tragedy,"  in  an  extravaganza  of  feeling  and 
a  fiasco  of  thought.  His  mind  being  cast  in  a  weird 
and  fantastic  mold,  his  place  is  the  cloister  of  the 
reflective  scholar.  He  lives  behind  the  veil ;  and  when- 
ever he  emerges  to  mingle  with  the  grosser  affairs  of 
life  we  may  expect  to  hear,  ever  and  anon,  that  sad 
and  bitter  wail.  Dr.  DuBois  is  passionately  devoted 
to  the  welfare  of  his  race,  but  he  is  allowing  himself 
to  be  exploited  in  a  function  for  which  he  is  by 
nature  unfit.  His  highest  service  will  consist  in  in- 
terpreting to  the  white  people  the  needs  and  feeling 
of  his  race  in  terms  of  exact  knowledge  and  nice 
language,  rather  than  as  an  agitator  or  promoter  of 
concrete  achievement.  Trotter  is  the  real  guid- 
ing power  of  the  "  Niagara  Movement,"  for  he,  al- 
most by  his  single  hand,  created  the  growth  that 
made  it  possible.  Although  we  may  hear  the  voice  of 
Jacob,  we  feel  the  hand  of  Esau.   DuBois  ostensibly 


18  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

manages  the  new  movement,  but  when  he  dares  to 
deviate  from  the  inflexible  intentions  of  Trotter,  there 
will  be  war  within,  and  victory  will  rest  with  the 
intrepid  editor. 

We  need  not  feel  surprised,  therefore,  that  such 
picturesque  points  as  Niagara  Falls  and  Harper's 
Ferry  figured  in  the  "  Niagara  Movement,"  under  the 
guiding  mind  of  DuBois.  They  were  planned  by 
a  poetic  mind.  It  is  a  poet's  attempt  to  dramatize 
the  ills  of  a  race  with  picturesque  stage  setting  and 
spectacular  scenic  effect. 

At  the  call  of  DuBois  a  number  of  men  met  at 
Niagara  Falls,  in  August,  1905,  and  launched  the 
"  Niagara  Movement "  amid  the  torrential  down- 
pour of  the  mighty  waters.  In  this  gathering 
were  some  of  the  ablest  and  most  earnest  men 
of  the  Negro  race.  The  call  appealed  mainly  to 
those  of  vehement  temperament,  every  one  of  whom 
was  an  avowed  opponent  of  Booker  T.  Washington. 
An  address  was  issued  to  the  country  setting  forth 
in  manly,  pointed  terms  the  rights  of  the  colored 
race.  The  platform  of  the  movement  contained 
nothing  new,  and  its  dynamic  was  derived  from  dis- 
sent. It  was  merely  a  protest  against  American 
color  discrimination,  based  upon  Mr.  Washington's 
alleged  acquiescence.  Many  of  the  subscribers  to 
the  new  movement  had  not,  up  to  that  time,  been 
known  for  their  activity  in  behalf  of  the  race,  and 
espoused  the  cause  as  "  a  cult  "  with  all  the  wonted 
zeal  and  intolerance  of  new  converts. 

The  second  manifesto  of  this  body,  issued  from 
Harper's  Ferry,  the  scene  of  John  Brown's  martyr- 
dom, is  scarcely  distinguishable  from  a  wild  and  fran- 
tic shriek.  The  lachrymal  wail  befits  the  child,  which 
has  "  no  language  but  a  cry."  Verbal  vehemence 
void  of  practical  power  to  enforce  demands  is  an  inef- 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      19 

fectual  missile  to  be  hurled  against  the  stronghold  of 
prejudice. 

Another  meeting  has  been  called  at  Oberlin,  Ohio, 
because  of  its  stirring  anti-slavery  suggestiveness. 
We  may  expect  a  future  session  at  Appomattox,  so 
prone  is  the  poetic  temperament  to  avail  itself  of  epi- 
sodal  and  dramatic  situations. 

When  the  "  Niagara  Movement  "  grows  out  of 
the  declamatory  stage  and  becomes  tempered  by 
dealing  with  the  actualities  of  the  situation  it  will 
find  its  place  among  the  many  agencies  working  to- 
gether for  the  general  cause. 

The  radical  and  conservative  tendencies  of  the 
Negro  race  cannot  be  better  described  than  by  com- 
paring, or  rather  contrasting,  the  two  superlative 
colored  men  in  whom  we  find  their  highest  embodi- 
ment— Frederick  Douglass  and  Booker  Washington, 
who  were  both  picked  out  and  exploited  by  white 
men  as  the  mouthpiece  and  intermediaries  of  the  black 
race.  The  two  men  are  in  part  products  of  their 
times,  but  are  also  natural  antipodes.  Douglass 
lived  in  the  day  of  moral  giants ;  Washington  lives 
in  the  era  of  merchant  princes.  The  contemporaries 
of  Douglass  emphasized  the  rights  of  man ;  those 
of  Washington,  his  productive  capacity.  The  age 
of  Douglass  acknowledged  the  sanction  of  the  Golden 
Rule ;  that  of  Washington  worships  the  Rule  of  Gold. 
The  equality  of  men  was  constantly  dinned  into 
Douglass's  ears ;  Washington  hears  nothing  but  the 
inferiority  of  the  Negro  and  the  dominance  of  the 
Saxon.  Douglass  could  hardly  receive  a  hearing  to- 
day; Washington  would  have  been  hooted  off  the 
stage  a  generation  ago.  Thus  all  truly  useful  men 
must  be,  in  a  measure,  time-servers ;  for  unless  they 
serve  their  time,  they  can  scarcely  serve  at  all.  But 
great  as  was   the  diversity   of   formative  influences 


£0  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

that  shaped  these  two  great  lives,  there  is  no  less 
opposability  in  their  innate  bias  of  character.  Doug- 
lass was  like  a  lion,  bold  and  fearless ;  Washington 
is  lamblike,  meek  and  submissive.  Douglass  escaped 
from  personal  bondage,  which  his  soul  abhorred ;  but 
for  Lincoln's  proclamation,  Washington  would  prob- 
ably have  arisen  to  esteem  and  favor  in  the  eyes  of 
his  master  as  a  good  and  faithful  servant.  Douglass 
insisted  upon  rights ;  Washington  insists  upon  duty. 
Douglass  held  up  to  public  scorn  the  sins  of  the 
white  man ;  Washington  portrays  the  faults  of  his 
own  race.  Douglass  spoke  what  he  thought  the 
world  should  hear;  Washington  speaks  only  what 
he  feels  it  is  disposed  to  listen  to.  Douglass's  con- 
duct was  actuated  by  principle;  Washington's  by 
prudence.  Douglass  had  no  limited,  copyrighted 
programme  for  his  race,  but  appealed  to  the  Deca- 
logue, the  Golden  Rule,  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, the  Constitution  of  the  United  States; 
Washington,  holding  these  great  principles  in  the 
shadowy  background,  presents  a  practical  expedient 
applicable  to  present  needs.  Douglass  was  a  moralist, 
insisting  upon  the  application  of  righteousness  to 
public  affairs;  Washington  is  a  practical  oppor- 
tunist, accepting  the  best  terms  which  he  thinks  it 
possible  to  secure. 

Booker  T.  Washington  came  upon  the  public 
stage  at  the  time  when  the  policies  which  Douglass 
embodied  had  seemed  to  fail.  Reconstruction  meas- 
ures had  proved  abortive;  Negro  politicians,  like 
Othello,  had  lost  their  occupation,  and  had  sought 
asylum  in  the  Government  departments  at  Washing- 
ton ;  the  erstwhile  advocates  of  the  Negro's  cause 
had  grown  indifferent  or  apologetic,  and  the  plain 
intent  of  the  Constitution  had  been  overborne  in  the 
South  with  the  connivance  of  the  North.     The  idea 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      21 

of  lifting  the  Negro  to  the  plane  of  equality  with 
the  white  race,  once  so  fondly  cherished,  found  few 
remaining  advocates.  Mr.  Washington  sized  up  the 
situation  with  the  certainty  and  celerity  of  a  genius. 
He  based  his  policy  upon  the  ruins  of  the  policy  that 
had  been  exploited.  He  avoided  controverted  issues, 
and  moved,  not  along  the  line  of  least  resistance,  but 
of  no  resistance  at  all.  He  founded  his  creed  upon 
construction  rather  than  upon  criticism.  He  urged 
his  race  to  do  the  things  possible  rather  than  whine 
and  pine  over  things  prohibited.  According  to  his 
philosophy,  it  is  better  to  build  even  upon  the  shift- 
ing sands  of  expediency  than  not  to  build  at  all 
simply  because  you  cannot  secure  a  granite  founda- 
tion. He  thus  hoped  to  utilize  for  the  betterment 
of  the  Negro  whatever  residue  of  good  feeling  there 
might  be  in  the  white  race.  Tuskegee  Institute, 
which  is  in  itself  a  marvelous  achievement,  is  only 
the  pulpit  from  which  Mr.  Washington  proclaims 
his  doctrine.  Industrial  education  has  become  so 
intricately  interwoven  into  his  policy  that  his  critics 
are  forced  into  the  ridiculous  attitude  of  opposing  a 
form  of  training  essential  to  the  welfare  of  any 
people.  For  reasons  of  policy,  Mr.  Washington  has 
been  provokingly  silent  as  to  the  claim  of  higher 
education,  although  his  personal  actions  proclaim 
loudly  enough  the  belief  that  is  in  his  heart.  The 
subject  of  industrial  and  higher  education  is  merely 
one  of  ratio  and  proportion,  and  not  one  of  funda- 
mental controversy. 

Mr.  Washington's  bitterest  opponents  cannot  gain- 
say his  sincerity  or  doubt  that  the  welfare  of  his 
race  is  the  chief  burden  of  his  soul.  He  follows  the 
leading  of  his  own  light.  Few  men  of  this  genera- 
tion have  shown  such  signal  devotion,  self-abnega- 
tion and  strenuous  endeavor  for  an  altruistic  cause. 


22  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

One  of  the  chief  complaints  against  the  Tuske- 
geean  is  lack  of  definite  statement  upon  questions  of 
vital  concern.  Mr.  Washington  is  a  diplomat,  and 
a  great  one.  He  sinks  into  sphinxlike  silence  when 
the  demands  of  the  situation  seem  to  require  emphatic 
utterance.  His  carefully  studied  deliverances  upon 
disputed  issues  often  possess  the  equivocalness  of  a 
Delphic  oracle.  While  he  does  not  openly  avow,  yet 
he  would  not  disclaim,  in  distinct  terms,  a  single  plank 
in  the  platform  of  Douglass.  The  white  race  saddles 
its  own  notions  and  feelings  upon  him,  and  yet  he 
opens  not  his  mouth.  His  sagacious  silence  and 
shrewdly  measured  assertions  must  be  taken,  if  not 
with  the  traditional  grain  of  salt,  at  least  with  a 
goodly  lump  of  diplomatic  allowance.  We  do  not 
usually  associate  deep  moral  conviction  with  the 
guileful  arts  of  diplomacy,  but  we  must  remember 
that  the  delicate  role  of  race  statesmanship  cannot 
be  played  without  rare  caution  and  tactful  prudence. 

Mr.  Washington's  popularity  and  prominence  de- 
pend largely  upon  the  fact  that  his  putative  policy 
is  acceptable  to  the  Southern  whites,  because  he  al- 
lows them  to  believe  that  he  accepts  their  estimate 
of  the  Negro's  inferior  place  in  the  social  scheme. 
He  is  quiescent,  if  not  acquiescent,  as  to  the  white 
man's  superior  claims.  He  shuts  his  eyes  to  many 
of  the  wrongs  and  outrages  heaped  upon  the  Negro 
race.  He  never  runs  against  the  Southerner's  tra- 
ditional prejudices,  and  even  when  he  protests  against 
his  practices  the  protestation  is  so  palliatory  that, 
like  a  good  conscience,  it  is  void  of  offence.  Equality 
between  the  races,  whether  social,  political,  or  civil,  is 
an  unsavory  term  to  the  white  man's  palate,  and, 
therefore,  Mr.  Washington  obliterates  it  from  his 
vocabulary.  The  higher  education  of  the  Negro  is 
in   general  disfavor,   so  Mr.  Washington   gives   the 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      23 

approval  of  his  silence  to  the  charge  that  such  pure 
and  devoted  philanthropists  as  President  Ware  of 
Atlanta,  Patton  of  Howard,  Tupper  of  Shaw,  and 
Cravath  of  Fisk,  who  did  more  than  all  others  to 
quicken  and  inspire  the  Negro  race,  have  lived,  loved, 
labored,  and  died  in  vain.  Nor  is  Washington  objec- 
tionable to  the  white  man  by  reason  of  his  self-as- 
sertive personality.  He  is  an  exact  modern  counter- 
part of  Chaucer's  knight :  "  Curteys  he  was,  lowly, 
and  servysable."  Even  when  he  violates  the  sacred 
code  of  the  whites  by  dining  with  the  President  or 
mingling  on  easy  terms  with  ultra-fashionable  circles, 
they  lash  themselves  into  momentary  fury,  but 
straightway  proceed  to  laud  and  glorify  his  policy. 
The  North  applauds  and  sustains  his  propagandism 
because  he  strives  to  be  at  peace  with  all  men.  He  ap- 
peals to  the  amity  and  not  the  enmity  of  both  races. 
We  are  in  the  midst  of  an  era  of  good  feeling,  and 
must  have  peace  at  any  price.  It  is  interesting  to 
witness  how  many  of  the  erstwhile  loud-voiced  advo- 
cates of  the  Negro's  rights  have  seized  upon  Mr. 
Washington's  pacific  policy  as  a  graceful  recession 
from  the  former  position.  The  whites  have  set  up 
Booker  Washington  as  in  a  former  day  they  set  up 
Frederick  Douglass,  as  the  divinely  appointed  and 
anointed  leader  of  his  race,  and  regard  as  sacrilege  all 
criticism  and  even  candid  discussion  on  the  part  of 
those  whom  he  has  been  sent  to  guide.  They  demand 
for  him  an  exemption  which  they  have  never  ac- 
corded their  own  leaders,  from  George  Washington 
to  Theodore  Roosevelt.  Nothing  could  be  further 
from  Mr.  Washington's  thoughts  than  the  assump- 
tion of  divine  commission  which  the  whites  seek  to 
impose  upon  him.  He  makes  no  claim  to  have  re- 
ceived a  revelation,  either  from  burning  bush  or 
mountain  top.     He  is  a  simple,  sincere,  unsophisti- 


U  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

cated  colaborer  with  his  brethren ;  a  single,  though 
signal,  agency  for  the  betterment  of  his  race. 

Mr.  Washington  did  not  start  out  as  a  leader  of 
his  people's  own  choosing;  he  did  not  command  an 
enthusiastic  and  spontaneous  following.  He  lacks 
that  magnetic  personality  that  would  cause  men  to 
love  him  and  women  to  adore  him.  His  method  is 
rather  that  of  a  missionary  seeking  the  material  and 
moral  betterment  of  an  unfortunate  people,  than  of 
a  spontaneous  leader  voicing  their  highest  self-ex- 
pression. He  is  deficient  in  the  fearlessness,  the  self- 
assertion,  the  aggressive  and  heroic  spirit  necessary 
to  quicken  and  inspire.  Such  a  leader  must  not  hold 
up  for  painful  contemplation  or  emphasize  to  the 
outside  world  the  repugnant,  grotesque  and  ludicrous 
faults  and  foibles  of  his  own  people,  but  he  must  con- 
stantly direct  their  attention  to  higher  and  better 
ideals.  His  dominant  note  must  be  pitched  in  the 
major  key.  He  must  not  be  of  the  earth  earthy, 
with  range  of  vision  limited  to  the  ugliness  of  un- 
toward conditions,  but  must  have  the  power  of 
idealization  and  spiritual  vista.  Exaggerated  self- 
importance  is  deemed  an  individual  fault,  but  a  racial 
virtue.  It  has  been  the  chief  incentive  of  every  race 
or  nation  that  has  ever  gained  prominence  in  the 
world's  affairs.  The  triumphant,  God-sent  leader  of 
any  people  must  be  the  exponent  and  expounder  of 
their  highest  aspirations  and  feelings,  and  must 
evoke  their  manhood  and  self-esteem,  yea,  even  their 
vanity  and  pride. 

Mr.  Washington's  following  was  at  first  very 
largely  prudential  and  constrained;  it  lacked  spon- 
taneousness  and  joyance.  He  was  not  hailed  with 
glad  acclaim  as  the  deliverer  of  his  people.  He 
brought  good  gifts  rather  than  glad  tidings.  Many 
believed  in  him  for  his  work's  sake ;  some  acquiesced 


KADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      25 

rather  than  antagonize  one  who  had  gained  so 
large  a  measure  of  public  confidence;  others  were 
willing  to  co-operate  in  the  accomplishment  of  good 
deeds,  though  they  inwardly  detested  his  doctrine; 
while  those  of  political  instinct  sought  his  favor  as 
a  pass-key  to  prestige  and  place.  Few  thoughtful 
colored  men  espoused  what  passed  as  Mr.  Washing- 
ton's "  policy  "  without  apology  or  reserve.  Many 
of  the  more  dispassionate  and  thoughtful  are  dis- 
posed to  yield  to  his  primacy  because  he  has  such  a 
hold  on  the  sentiment  and  imagination  of  the  white 
race  that,  if  for  any  reason  the  spell  should  be 
broken,  no  other  colored  man  could  ever  hope,  for 
like  consideration  and  esteem. 

Mr.  Washington's  critics  assert  that  his  leadership 
has  been  barren  of  good  results  to  the  Negro  race, 
unmindful  of  the  magnitude  of  the  contract  he  has 
promised  the  American  people  that  he  would  solve 
the  race  problem.  Under  his  regnancy  it  is  claimed 
that  the  last  vestige  of  political  power  has  been  swept 
away.  Civil  privileges  have  been  restricted,  educa- 
tional opportunities,  in  somes  States  at  least,  have 
been  curtailed;  the  industrial  situation,  the  keystone 
of  his  policy,  has  become  more  ominous  and  uncer- 
tain, while  the  feeling  between  the  races  is  constantly 
growing  more  acute  and  threatening.  In  answer  to 
this  it  is  averred  that  no  human  power  could  stay 
the  wave  of  race  hatred  now  sweeping  over  the  coun- 
try, but  that  the  Tuskegeean's  pacific  policy  will 
serve  to  relieve  the  severity  of  the  blow.  All  of  the 
leaders  before  him  essayed  the  task  in  vain,  and  gave 
up  in  despair. 

The  majority  of  thoughtful  men  range  between 
these  wide-apart  views,  appreciating  the  good  and 
the  limitations  of  both.  They  believe  in  neither  sur- 
render nor   revolution,    and  that   both   forces   have 


26  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

their  place  and  function  in  the  solution  of  the  race 
problem.  They  are  joint  factors  of  a  common 
product,  whose  relative  strength  and  importance  may 
increase  or  diminish  with  the  shifting  exigencies  of 
conditions.  While  it  would  be  unseemly  for  those 
who  breathe  the  free  air  of  New  England  to  remain 
silent  concerning  the  heavy  burden  borne  by  their 
brethren  in  the  South,  yet  we  must  not  forget  that 
Frederick  Douglass  himself  could  not  to-day  build 
up  an  institution  in  Alabama,  nor  do  the  imperative 
constructive  work  in  that  section.  The  progress  of 
all  peoples  is  marked  by  alternations  of  combat  and 
contention  on  the  one  hand,  and  compromise  and 
concession  on  the  other,  and  progress  is  the  result 
of  the  play  and  counterplay  of  these  forces.  Colored 
men  should  have  a  larger  tolerance  for  the  widest 
latitude  of  opinion  and  method.  Too  frequently 
what  passes  as  "  an  irrepressible  conflict  "  is  merely 
difference  in  point  of  view. 

The  Negro's  lot  would  be  sad  indeed  if,  under 
allurement  of  material  advantage  and  temporary 
easement,  he  should  sink  into  pliant  yieldance  to 
unrighteous  oppression ;  but  it  would  be  sadder  still 
if  intemperate  insistence  should  engender  ill  will  and 
strife,  when  the  race  is  not  yet  ready  to  be  "  battered 
with  the  shocks  of  doom."  The  words  of  Guizot 
never  found  a  more  pertinent  application  than  to  the 
present  circumstances  and  situation  of  the  Negro 
race: 


We  continually  oscillate  between  an  inclination  to  com- 
plain without  sufficient  cause  and  to  be  too  easily  satis- 
fied. We  have  extreme  susceptibility  of  mind,  an  inordi- 
nate craving,  an  ambition  in  our  thoughts,  in  our  desires, 
and  in  the  movements  of  our  imagination;  yet  when  we 
come  to  practical  life,  when  trouble,  when  sacrifices,  when 
efforts   are   required    for   the    attainment   of   our    object,    we 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      9X 

sink  into  lassitude  and  inactivity.  Let  us  not,  however, 
suffer  ourselves  to  be  invaded  by  either  of  these  vices.  Let 
us  estimate  fairly  what  our  abilities,  our  knowledge,  our 
power  enable  us  to  do  lawfully,  and  let  us  aim  at  nothing 
that  we  cannot  lawfully,  justly  and  prudently — with  a 
proper  respect  for  the  great  principles  upon  which  our 
social    system,    our    civilization,    is    based — attain. 


Mr.  Booker  T.  Washington's  later  career  is  ex- 
emplifying more  and  more  the  philosophy  of  this 
sentiment. 

Under  the  spur  of  adverse  criticism  and  the  grow- 
ing sense  of  responsibility  which  his  expanding  op- 
portunities impose,  Mr.  Washington  has  become  so 
enlarged  that  his  leadership  is  universally  conceded, 
and  well-nigh  universally  accepted.  Few  men  have 
shown  such  power  of  enlargement.  Even  those  who 
continue  to  challenge  his  primacy  confess  that  they 
are  opposing  the  Washington  of  long  ago  rather 
than  the  Washington  of  to-day.  He  rises  trium- 
phantly on  stepping-stones  of  his  dead  self  to  higher 
things.  He  began  his  career  with  a  narrow  educa- 
tional bias  and  a  one-sided  championship  of  industrial 
training,  as  offset  to  the  claims  of  literary  culture 
which  had  hitherto  absorbed  the  substance  of  North- 
ern philanthropy.  But  he  has  grown  so  far  in  grasp 
and  in  breadth  of  view  that  he  advocates  all  modes 
of  education  in  their  proper  place  and  proportion. 
He  at  first  deprecated  the  Negro's  active  participa- 
tion in  politics,  but  with  broadening  vision  and  in- 
creasing courage  he  now  serves  as  consulting  states- 
man touching  all  political  interests  of  the  race. 

Washington's  equability  of  temper  is  most  remark- 
able. He  receives  a  bequest  of  a  million  dollars, 
dines  with  the  President,  listens  to  the  adulation  of 
half  the  world  or  the  bitter  abuse  of  those  whom  he 
strives  to  serve,  with  the  same  modest  and  unruffled 


28  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

demeanor.  His  sanity  and  poise  are  unsurpassed. 
In  a  toast  at  a  banquet  given  in  honor  of  Mr.  Wash- 
ington in  the  city  of  Washington,  the  present  writer 
proclaimed  his  conditional  leadership,  which  the 
Negro  race  is  now  accepting  with  lessening  reserve: 

"  We  have  as  our  guest  to-night  one  who  has 
come  up  from  slavery,  up  from  the  coal  caverns  of 
West  Virginia,  struggling  up  against  narrow  the- 
ories, lack  of  early  education  and  bias  of  environ- 
ment, tactfully  expanding  the  prudential  restraints 
of  a  delicate  and  critical  situation,  rising  upon  succes- 
sive stepping-stones  of  past  achievements  and  past 
mistakes,  but  ever  planting  his  feet  upon  higher  and 
higher  ground.  Sir,  you  enjoy  a  degree  of  concrete 
achievement  and  personal  distinction  excelled  by  few 
men  now  living  on  this  planet.  You  are  not  only 
the  foremost  man  of  the  Negro  race,  but  one  of  the 
foremost  men  of  all  the  world.  We  did  not  give 
you  that  *  glad  eminence '  and  we  cannot  take  it 
away,  but  we  would  utilize  and  appropriate  it  to 
the  good  of  the  race.  You  have  the  attention 
of  the  white  world;  you  hold  the  pass-key  to  the 
heart  of  the  great  white  race.  Your  command- 
ing position,  your  personal  prestige,  and  the 
magic  influence  of  your  illustrious  name  entail 
upon  you  the  responsibility  to  become  the  leader  of 
the  people,  to  stand  as  daysman  between  us  and  the 
great  white  God,  and  lay  a  propitiating  hand  upon 
us  both.  Some  have  criticised  in  the  past,  and  re- 
serve the  right  to  do  so  in  the  future.  A  noble  soul 
is  big  enough  to  invite  candid  criticism,  and  eschew 
sychophantic  adulation. 

"  Sir,  if  you  will  stand  upon  the  granite  pedestal 
of  truth  and  righteousness,  and  pursue  policies  that 
are  commensurate  with  the  entire  circle  of  our  needs, 
and  which  are  broad-based  upon  the  people's     will, 


RADICALS    AND    CONSERVATIVES      29 

and  advocate  the  fullest  opportunity  of  Negro  youth 
to  expand  and  exploit  their  faculties,  if  you  will 
stand  as  the  fearless  champion  of  the  Negro's  politi- 
cal rights  before  the  law  and  behind  the  law,  then  a 
united  race  will  rise  up  and  join  in  gladsome  chorus: 

" '  Only   thou   our   leader   be, 
And   we   still   will    follow    thee.' " 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 

An     Open    Letter    to    Thomas    Dixon,    Jr. 

As  to  the  Leopard's  Spots — "  I  regard  it  as  the  ablest, 
soundest,  and  most  important  document  that  has  appeared 
on    this    subject   in    many   years. 

"  Geo.     W.     Cable." 

September,  1905. 
Mr.  Thomas  Dixon,  Jr.  : 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  writing  you  this  letter  to  express 
the  attitude  and  feeling  of  ten  million  of  your  fellow- 
citizens  toward  the  evil  propagandism  of  race  animos- 
ity to  which  you  have  lent  your  great  literary  powers. 
Through  the  widespread  influence  of  your  writings 
you  have  become  the  chief  priest  of  those  who  wor- 
ship at  the  shrine  of  race  hatred  and  wrath.  This 
one  spirit  runs  through  all  your  books  and  published 
utterances,  like  the  recurrent  theme  of  an  opera.  As 
the  general  trend  of  your  doctrine  is  clearly  epito- 
mized and  put  forth  in  your  contribution  to  the  Sat- 
urday Evening  Post  of  August  19,  I  beg  to  consider 
chiefly  the  issues  therein  raised.  You  are  a  white  man 
born  in  the  midst  of  the  Civil  War;  I  am  a  Negro 
born  during  the  same  stirring  epoch.  You  were  born 
with  a  silver  spoon  in  your  mouth;  I  was  born  with 
an  iron  hoe  in  my  hand.  Your  race  has  afflicted  ac- 
cumulated injury  and  wrong  upon  mine;  mine  has 
borne  yours  only  service  and  good  will.  You  express 
your  views  with  the  most  scathing  frankness ;  I  am 
sure  you  will  welcome  an  equally  candid  expression 
from  me. 

Permit  me  to  acknowledge  the  personal  considera- 
30 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       31 

tion  which  you  have  shown  me.  You  will  doubtless 
recall  that  when  I  addressed  the  Congregational 
ministers  of  New  York  City,  a  year  or  more  ago, 
you  asked  permission  to  be  present  and  listened 
attentively  to  what  I  had  to  say,  although,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  you  beat  a  precipitous  retreat 
when  luncheon  was  announced.  In  your  article  in 
the  Post  you  make  several  references  to  me  and  to 
other  colored  men  with  entire  personal  courtesy.  So 
far  as  I  know  you  have  never  varied  from  this  rule 
in  your  personal  dealings  with  members  of  my  race. 
You  are  merciless,  however,  in  excoriating  the  race 
as  a  whole,  thus  keenly  wounding  the  sensibilities 
of  every  individual  of  that  blood.  I  assure  you  that 
this  courtesy  of  personal  treatment  will  be  recipro- 
cated in  this  letter,  however  sharply  I  may  be  com- 
pelled to  take  issue  with  the  views  you  set  forth  and 
to  deplore  your  attitude.  I  shall  endeavor  to  indulge 
in  no  bitter  word  against  your  race  or  against  the 
South,  whose  exponent  and  special  pleader  you  as- 
sume to  be. 

I  fear  that  you  have  mistaken  personal  manners, 
the  inevitable  varnish  of  any  gentleman  of  your 
antecedents  and  rearing,  for  friendship  to  a  race 
which  you  hold  in  despite.  You  tell  us  that  you  are 
kind  and  considerate  to  your  personal  servants.  It 
is  somewhat  strange  that  you  should  deem  such  as- 
surance necessary,  any  more  than  it  is  necessary  for 
you  to  assure  us  that  you  are  kind  to  your  horse  or 
your  dog  and  fond  of  them.  But  when  you  write 
yourself  down  as  "  one  of  their  best  friends,"  you 
need  not  be  surprised  if  we  retort  the  refrain  of  the 
ritual,  "  From  all  such  proffers  of  friendship,  good 
Lord  deliver  us."  An  astronomer  once  tried  to  con- 
vince a  layman,  unlearned  in  astronomical  lore,  that 
the  North   Star  was   bigger  than  the   moon.     The 


32  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

unsophisticated  reply  was,  "  It  might  be  so,  but  it 
has  a  mighty  poor  way  of  showing  it."  The  recon- 
ciliation of  your  apparently  violent  attitude  with 
your  profession  of  friendship  is,  I  confess,  too  subtle 
a  process  for  the  African  intellect. 

I  beg  to  call  your  attention  to  a  fault  of  temper 
which  may  be  unconscious  on  your  part.  The  tradi- 
tional method  of  your  class  in  dealing  with  adverse 
opinion  was  "  a  word  and  a  blow  " ;  with  you  it  is  a 
word  and  an  epithet.  Your  opponents  in  the  field 
of  opinion  are  set  down  as  "  pot-house  politicians," 
"  the  ostrich  man,"  "  the  pooh-pooh  man,"  and  "  the 
benevolent  old  maid."  Of  course,  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, Andrew  Carnegie,  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  Lyman  Ab- 
bott, Chancellor  Hill,  John  D.  Rockefeller  and  E. 
Gardner  Murphy  would  fall  under  the  one  or  the 
other  of  your  sonorous  designations.  Your  choicest 
assortment  of  epithets,  I  presume,  is  reserved  for 
Robert  C.  Ogden  and  the  General  Education  Board, 
whom  you  seem  to  regard  with  especial  repugnance. 
For  these,  doubtless,  you  intended  such  appellatives 
as  "  weak-minded  optimists  "  and  "  female  men." 
The  most  illustrious  names  in  America,  living  and 
dead, -would  fall  under  the  ban  of  your  opprobrium. 
According  to  your  standard,  the  only  Americans  who 
could  be  accounted  safe,  sane  and  judicious  on  the 
race  issue  would  be  the  author  of  "  The  Leopard's 
Spots,"  Senator  Tillman,  and  Governor  Vardaman. 

Your  fundamental  thesis  is  that"  "  no  amount  of 
education  of  any  kind,  industrial,  classical,  or  re- 
ligious, can  make  a  Negro  a  white  man  or  bridge  the 
chasm  of  the  centuries  which  separates  him  from 
the  white  man  in  the  evolution  of  human  history." 
This  doctrine  is  as  old  as  human  oppression.  Cal- 
houn made  it  the  arch-stone  in  the  defense  of  Negro 
slavery — and  lost. 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       33 

This  is  but  a  recrudescence  of  the  doctrine  which 
was  exploited  and  exploded  during  the  anti-slavery 
struggle.  Do  you  recall  the  school  of  pro-slavery 
scientists  who  demonstrated  beyond  doubt  that  the 
Negro's  skull  was  too  thick  to  comprehend  the 
substance  of  Aryan  knowledge?  Have  you  not 
read  in  the  now  discredited  scientific  books  of 
that  period  with  what  triumphant  acclaim  it  was 
shown  that  the  shape  and  size  of  the  Negro's  skull, 
facial  angle,  and  cephalic  configuration  rendered 
him  forever  impervious  to  the  white  man's  civiliza- 
tion ?  But  all  enlightened  minds  are  now  as  ashamed 
of  that  doctrine  as  they  are  of  the  one-time  dogma 
that  the  Negro  had  no  soul.  We  become  aware  of 
mind  through  its  manifestations.  Within  forty 
years  of  only  partial  opportunity,  while  playing,  as 
it  were,  in  the  back  yard  of  civilization,  the  American 
Negro  has  cut  down  his  illiteracy  by  over  fifty  per 
cent. ;  has  produced  a  professional  class,  some  fifty 
thousand  strong,  including  ministers,  teachers,  doc- 
tors, editors,  authors,  architects,  engineers,  and  is 
found  in  all  higher  lines  of  listed  pursuits  in  which 
white  men  are  engaged ;  some  three  thousand  Negroes 
have  taken  collegiate  degrees,  over  three  hundred 
being  from  the  best  institutions  in  the  North  and 
West  established  for  the  most  favored  white  youth; 
there  is  scarcely  a  first-class  institution  in  America, 
excepting  some  three  or  four  in  the  South,  that  is 
without  colored  students,  who  pursue  their  studies 
generally  with  success,  and  sometimes  with  distinc- 
tion ;  Negro  inventors  have  taken  out  four  hundred 
patents  as  a  contribution  to  the  mechanical  genius  of 
America ;  there  are  scores  of  Negroes  who,  for  con- 
ceded ability  and  achievements,  take  respectable  rank 
in  the  company  of  distinguished  Americans. 

It  devolves   upon  you,  Mr.  Dixon,  to  point  out 


si 


J 

34  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

some  standard,  either  of  intelligence,  character,  or 
conduct,  to  which  the  Negro  cannot  conform.  Will 
you  please  tell  a  waiting  world  just  what  is  the 
psychological  difference  between  the  races  ?  No  repu- 
table authority,  either  of  the  old  or  of  the  new  school 
of  psychology,  has  yet  pointed  out  any  sharp  psychic 
discriminant.  ,r  There  is  not  a  single  intellectual, 
moral,  or  spiritual  excellence  attained  by  the  white 
race  to  which  the  Negro  does  not  yield  an  apprecia- 
tive response."'  If  you  could  show  that  the  Negro  is 
incapable  of  mastering  the  intricacies  of  Aryan 
speech ;  that  he  could  not  comprehend  the  intellectual 
basis  of  European  culture,  or  apply  the  apparatus 
of  practical  knowledge;  that  he  could  not  be  made 
amenable  to  the  white  man's  ethical  code  or  appre- 
ciate his  spiritual  motive — then  your  case  would  be 
proved.  But  in  default  of  such  demonstration  we 
must  relegate  your  eloquent  pronouncement  to  the 
realm  of  generalization  and  prophecy,  an  easy  and 
agreeable  exercise  of  the  mind  in  which  the  romancer 
is  ever  prone  to  indulge. 

The  inherent,  essential  and  unchangeable  inferior- 
ity of  the  Negro  to  the  white  man  lies  at  the  basis 
of  your  social  philosophy.  You  disdain  to  examine 
the  validity  of  your  fondly  cherished  hope.  You 
follow  closely  in  the  wake  of  Tom  Watson,  in  the 
June  number  of  his  homonymous  magazine.  You 
both  hurl  your  thesis  of  innate  racial  inferiority  at 
the  head  of  Booker  T.  Washington.  You  use  the 
same  illustrations,  the  same  arguments,  and  you  set 
them  forth  in  the  same  order  of  recital,  and  for  the 
most  part  in  identical  language.  This  seems  to  be 
an  instance  of  great  minds,  or  at  least  of  minds  of 
the  same  grade,  running  in  the  same  channel. 

These  are  your  words :  "  What  contribution  to 
human  progress  have  the  millions  of  Africans,  who 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       35 

inhabit  this  planet,  made  during  the  past  four  thou- 
sand years?  Absolutely  nothing."  These  are  the 
words  of  Thomas  Watson  spoken  some  two  months 
previous :  "  What  does  civilization  owe  to  the  Negro 
race  ?  Nothing !  Nothing ! !  Nothing ! ! !  "  You 
answer  the  query  with  the  most  emphatic  negative 
noun  and  the  strongest  qualifying  adjective  in  the 
language.  Mr.  Watson,  of  a  more  ecstatic  tempera- 
ment, replies  with  the  same  noun  and  six  exclamation 
points.  One  rarely  meets,  outside  of  yellow  journal- 
ism, with  such  lavishness  of  language  wasted  upon  a 
hoary  dogma.  A  discredited  doctrine  that  has  been 
bandied  about  the  world  from  the  time  of  Canaan  to 
Calhoun,  is  revamped  and  set  forth  with  as  much 
ardor  and  fervency  of  feeling  as  if  revealed  for  the 
first  time  and  proclaimed  for  the  enlightenment  of  a 
waiting  world.  But  neither  boastful  asseveration  on 
your  part  nor  indignant  denial  on  mine  will  affect  the 
facts  of  the  case.  That  Negroes  in  the  average  are 
not  equal  in  developed  capacity  to  the  white  race,  is  a 
proposition  which  it  would  be  as  simple  to  affirm  as 
it  is  silly  to  deny.  The  Negro  represents  a  be- 
lated race  which  has  not  yet  taken  a  commanding 
part  in  the  progressive  movement  of  the  world.  In 
the  great  cosmic  scheme  of  things,  some  races  reach 
the  lime-light  of  civilization  ahead  of  others.  But 
that  temporary  forwardness  does  not  argue  inherent 
superiority  is  as  evident  as  any  fact  of  history.  An 
unfriendly  environment  may  hinder  and  impede  the 
one,  while  fortunate  circumstances  may  quicken  and 
spur  the  other.  Relative  superiority  is  only  a  tran- 
sient phase  of  human  development.  You  tell  us 
that  "  The  Jew  had  achieved  civilization — had  his 
poets,  prophets,  priests  and  kings,  when  our  Ger- 
manic ancestors  were  still  in  the  woods  cracking 
cocoanuts    and    hickory    nuts    with    the    monkeys." 


RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Fancy  some  learned  Jew  at  that  day  citing  your 
query  about  the  contribution  of  the  Germanic  races 
to  the  culture  of  the  human  spirit,  during  the  thou- 
sands of  years  of  their  existence !  Does  the  progress 
of  history  not  prove  that  races  may  lie  dormant  and 
fallow  for  ages  and  then  break  suddenly  into  prestige 
and  power?  Fifty  years  ago  you  doubtless  would 
have  ranked  Japan  among  the  benighted  nations  and 
hurled  at  their  heathen  heads  some  derogatory  query 
as  to  their  contribution  to  civilization.  But  since 
the  happenings  at  Mukden  and  Port  Arthur  and 
Portsmouth,  I  suppose  that  you  are  ready  to  change 
your  mind  on  the  subject.  Or  maybe,  since  the  Jap 
has  proved  himself  a  "  first-class  fighting  man,"  able 
to  cope  on  equal  terms  with  the  best  breeds  of 
Europe,  you  will  claim  him  as  belonging  to  the  white 
race,  notwithstanding  his  pig  eye  and  yellow  pig- 
ment. 

In  the  course  of  history  the  ascendency  of  the 
various  races  and  nations  of  men  is  subject  to  strange 
variability.  The  Egyptian,  the  Jew,  the  Indian,  the 
Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Arab,  has  each  had  his  turn 
at  domination.  When  the  earlier  nations  were  in 
their  zenith  of  art  and  thought  and  song,  Franks  and 
Britons  and  Germans  were  roaming  through  dense 
forests,  groveling  in  subterranean  caves,  practicing 
barbarous  rites,  and  chanting  horrid  incantations 
to  graven  gods.  In  the  proud  days  of  Aristotle  the 
ancestors  of  Newton  and  Shakespeare  and  Bacon 
could  not  count  beyond  the  ten  fingers.  As  compared 
with  the  developed  civilization  of  the  period,  they 
were  a  backward  race,  though,  as  subsequent  devel- 
opment has  shown,  by  no  means  an  inferior  one. 
There  were  hasty  philosophers  in  that  day  who 
branded  these  people  with  the  everlasting  stamp  of 
inferiority.     The  brand  of  philosophy  portrayed  in 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       37 

"  The  Leopard's  Spots  "  and  in  Tom  Watson' 's  Mag- 
azine has  flourished  in  all  ages  of  the  world. 

The  individuals  of  a  backward  race  are  not,  as 
such,  necessarily  inferior  to  those  of  a  more  advanced 
people.  The  vast  majority  of  any  race  is  composed 
of  ordinary  and  inferior  folk.  To  use  President 
Roosevelt's  expression,  they  cannot  pull  their  own 
weight.  It  is  only  the  few  choice  individuals,  rein- 
forced by  a  high  standard  of  social  efficiency,  that 
are  capable  of  adding  to  the  civilization  of  the 
world.  >s 

There  is  no  hard  and  fast  line  dividing  the  two 
races  on  the  scale  of  capacity.  There  is  the  widest 
possible  range  of  variation  within  the  limits  of  each. 
A  philosopher  and  fool  may  not  only  be  members 
of  the  same  race  but  of  the  same  family.  No  scheme 
of  classification  is  possible  which  will  include  all  white 
men  and  shut  out  all  Negroes.  According  to  any 
test  of  excellence  that  your  and  Mr.  Watson's  in- 
genuity can  devise,  some  Negroes  will  be  superior 
to  most  white  men ;  no  stretch  of  ingenuity  or  strain 
of  conscience  has  yet  devised  a  plan  of  franchise 
which  includes  all  of  the  members  of  one  race  and 
excludes  all  those  of  the  other. 

Learned  opinion  on  the  other  side  ought,  at  least, 
to  weigh  as  much  against  your  thesis  as  your  own 
fulminations  count  in  favor  of  it.  You  surely  have 
high  respect  for  the  authority  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 
In  a  letter  to  Benjamin  Banneker,  the  Negro  astron- 
omer, the  author  of  the  great  Declaration  wrote: 
"  Nobody  wishes  more  than  I  do  to  see  such  proofs 
as  you  exhibit  that  Nature  has  given  to  our  black 
brethren  talents  equal  to  those  of  the  other  colors  of 
men,  and  that  the  apparent  want  of  them  is  owing 
merely  to  the  degraded  condition  of  their  existence, 
both  in  Africa  and  America." 


/ 


38  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Mr.  William  Mathews,  a  noted  author,  writing 
some  time  ago  in  the  North  American  Review,  as- 
serts :  "  We  affirm  that  the  inferiority  of  the  Negro 
has  never  been  proven,  nor  is  there  any  good  ground 
to  suppose  that  he  is  forever  to  maintain  his  relative 
position,  or  that  he  is  inferior  to  the  white  man  in 
any  other  sense  than  some  white  races  are  inferior  to 
each  other." 

Prof.  N.  F.  Shaler,  a  native  of  the  South,  and 
Professor  in  Harvard  University,  writes  in  the  Arena: 
"  There  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  black  men 
who  in  capacity  are  to  be  ranked  with  the  superior 
persons  of  the  dominant  race,  and  it  is  hard  to  say 
that  in  any  evident  feature  of  mind  they  character- 
istically differ  from  their  white  fellow-citizens." 

Benjamin  Kidd,  in  his  work  on  Social  Evolution, 
declares  that  the  Negro  child  shows  no  inferiority, 
and  that  the  deficiency  which  he  seems  to  manifest  in 
after  life  is  due  to  his  dwarfing  and  benumbing  en- 
vironment. Prof.  John  Spencer  Bassett,  of  Trinity 
College,  North  Carolina,  has  had  the  courage  to 
state  the  belief  that  the  Negro  would  gain  equality 
some  day.  He  also  tells  us  that  Dr.  Booker  Wash- 
ington, whom  Mr.  Watson  takes  so  sharply  to  task 
for  hinting  that  the  Negro  may  be  superior  to  some 
white  men,  is  the  greatest  man,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion, that  the  South  has  produced  in  a  hundred 
years.  This  is  indeed  a  suggestion  of  Negro  supe- 
riority with  a  vengeance.  In  the  judgment  of  this 
distinguished  Southerner,  one  Negro,  at  least,  is 
superior  to  millions  of  his  white  fellow-citizens,  in- 
cluding the  editor  of  Tom  Watson's  Magazine  and 
the  author  of  "  The  Leopard's  Spots." 

"  But,"  rejoins  the  objector,  "  if  the  Negro  pos- 
sesses this  inherent  capacity,  why  has  he  not  given 
the  world  the  benefit  of  it  during  the  course  of  his- 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       39 

tory  ?  "  Capacity  is  potential  rather  than  a  dynamic 
mode  of  energy.  Whatever  native  capacity  the  mind 
may  possess,  it  must  be  stimulated  and  reinforced  by 
social  accomplishment  before  it  can  show  great 
achievement.  In  arithmetic  a  number  has  an  inherent 
and  local  value,  the  latter  being  by  far  the  more 
powerful  function  in  numerical  calculation.  The  in- 
dividual may  count  for  much,  but  the  social  efficiency 
counts  for  most.  It  is  absolutely  impossible  for  a 
Francis  Bacon  to  thrive  among  the  Bushmen,  or  a 
Herbert  Spencer  among  the  Hottentots.  The  great 
names  of  the  world  always  arise  among  the  people 
who,  for  the  time  being,  are  in  the  forefront  of  the 
world's  movements.  We  do  not  expect  names  of  the 
first  degree  of  lustre  to  arise  among  suppressed  and 
submerged  classes. 

In  confirmation  of  this  view  let  us  turn  for  a  mo- 
ment to  the  pages  of  history.  Mr.  Lecky  tells  us  in 
his  "  History  of  European  Morals  " : 

"  I  regard  it  as  one  of  the  anomalies  of  history 
that  within  the  narrow  limits  and  scanty  population 
of  the  Greek  states  should  have  arisen  men  who  in 
almost  every  conceivable  form  of  genius,  in  philos- 
ophy, in  ethics,  in  dramatic  and  lyric  poetry,  in 
written  and  spoken  eloquence,  in  statesmanship,  in 
sculpture,  in  painting,  and  probably  also  in  music, 
should  have  attained  almost  or  altogether  the  highest 
limits  of  human  perfection." 

Mr.  Galton  in  his  "  Hereditary  Genius  "  tells  us : 
"  We  have  no  men  to  put  beside  Socrates  and  Phidias. 
The  millions  of  Europe  breeding  as  they  have  done 
for  the  subsequent  two  thousand  years  have  never 
produced  their  equals.  It  follows  from  all  this  that 
the  average  ability  of  the  Athenian  race  is,  on  the 
lowest  estimate,  very  nearly  two  grades  higher  than 
our  own ;  that  is,  about  as  much  as  our  race  is  above 


40  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

that  of  the  African  Negro."  And  yet  this  intel- 
lectual race,  this  race  of  Phidias  and  Homer,  of 
Plato  and  Socrates,  has  continued  for  two  thousand 
years  in  a  state  of  complete  intellectual  stagnation. 
When  they  lost  their  political  nationality  and  became 
submerged  beneath  the  heavy  weight  of  oppression, 
to  use  the  language  of  Macaulay,  "  their  people  have 
degenerated  into  timid  slaves  and  their  language  into 
a  barbarous  jargon."  Can  there  be  any  stronger 
proof  of  the  fact  that  great  achievements  depend 
upon  environment  and  social  stimulus  rather  than 
innate  capacity? 

Where  now  is  the  boasted  glory  of  Egypt  and 
Babylon,  of  Nineveh  and  Tyre?  Expeditions  from 
distant  continents  are  sent  to  unearth  the  achieve- 
ments of  renowned  ancestors  beneath  the  very  feet 
of  their  degenerate  descendants,  as  a  mute  reminder 
to  the  world  of  the  transiency  of  human  greatness. 

The  Jews  seem  to  form  an  exception  to  this  rule, 
but  the  exception  is  seeming  rather  than  real.  While 
they  have  lost  their  political  integrity,  they  have  pre- 
served their  spiritual  nationality.  The  race  of 
Moses  and  Paul  and  Jesus  still  produces  great  names, 
though  not  of  the  same  grade  of  glory  as  their  pro- 
totypes of  old. 

Our  own  country  has  not  escaped  the  odium  of 
intellectual  inferiority.  The  generation  has  scarcely 
passed  away  in  whose  ears  used  to  ring  the  standing 
sneer,  "  Who  reads  an  American  book?  "  It  was  in 
the  day  of  Thomas  Jefferson  that  a  learned  European 
declared :  "  America  has  not  produced  one  good  poet, 
one  able  mathematician,  one  man  of  genius  in  a  single 
art  or  science."  In  response  to  this  charge  Jefferson 
enters  an  eloquent  special  plea.  He  says :  "  When 
we  shall  have  existed  as  a  people  as  long  as  the  Greeks 
did  before  they  produced  a  Homer,  the  Romans,  a 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       41 

Virgil,  the  French,  a  Racine,  the  English,  a  Shake- 
speare and  Milton,  should  this  reproach  be  still  true, 
we  will  inquire  from  what  unfriendly  cause  it  has  pro- 
ceeded." How  analogous  to  this  is  the  reproach 
which  you  and  Mr.  Watson,  treading  the  track  of 
Thomas  Nelson  Page,  and  those  of  his  school  of 
thought,  now  hurl  against  the  Negro  race?  The 
response  of  Jefferson  defending  the  American  colo- 
nies from  the  reproach  of  innate  inferiority  will  apply 
with  augmented  emphasis  to  ward  off  similar  charges 
against  the  despised  and  rejected  Negro.  A  learned 
authority  tells  us :  "  Hardly  two  centuries  have 
passed  since  Russia  was  covered  with  a  horde  of  bar- 
barians among  whom  it  would  have  been  as  difficult 
to  find  any  example  of  intellectual  cultivation  and 
refinement  as  at  this  day  to  find  the  same  phenomenon 
at  Timbuctoo  or  among  the  Negroes  of  Georgia  or 
Alabama."  It  is  well  for  the  good  fame  of  the  Rus- 
sian people  that  Tom  Watson's  Magazine  did  not 
exist  in  those  days. 

According  to  a  study  of  the  distribution  of  ability 
in  the  United  States,  a  study  made  by  Hon.  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge,  the  little  State  of  Massachusetts  has 
produced  more  men  of  distinction  and  achievement 
than  all  the  South  combined.  "  In  architecture,  agri- 
culture, manufacture,  finance,  legislation,  sculpture, 
religion,  organization,  painting,  music,  literature, 
science,  the  wedding  of  the  fine  arts  of  religion,"  the 
South  is  relatively  backward  as  compared  with  other 
sections  of  the  country.  But  this  lack  of  compara- 
tive achievement  is  not  due  at  all  to  innate  inferiority 
of  Southern  white  men  to  their  brethren  in  higher 
latitudes.  Mr.  Thomas  Nelson  Page,  in  his  famous 
book  on  the  Old  South,  accepts  this  derogatory  fact 
and  explains  its  cause  with  much  ingenuity.  The 
white  people  of  the  South  claim,  or  rather  boast  of, 


42  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

a  race  prepotency  and  inheritance  as  great  as  that 
of  any  breed  of  men  in  the  world.  But  they  clearly 
fail  to  show  like  attainment. 

It  would  evidently  be  unfair  to  conclude  that  the 
white  race  in  Georgia  is  inherently  inferior  to  the 
people  of  New  England  because  it  has  failed  to  pro- 
duce names  of  like  renown.  The  difference  in  wealth, 
culture  and  bracing  tone  of  environments  is  quite 
sufficient  to  account  for  the  difference  in  results.  I 
think  that  you  and  Mr.  Watson  will  be  generous 
enough  to  concede  to  the  Negro  the  benefit  of  the 
same  argument  which  the  defenders  of  the  South 
resort  to  in  justification  of  its  own  relative  back- 
wardness. The  Negro  has  never,  during  the  whole 
course  of  history,  been  surrounded  by  those  influ- 
ences which  tend  to  strengthen  and  develop  the  mind. 
To  expect  the  Negroes  of  Georgia  to  produce  a 
great  general  like  Napoleon  when  they  are  not  even 
allowed  to  carry  arms,  or  to  deride  them  for  not  pro- 
ducing scholars  like  those  of  the  Renaissance  when 
a  few  years  ago  they  were  forbidden  the  use  of  let- 
ters, verges  closely  upon  the  outer  rim  of  absurdity. 
Do  you  look  for  great  Negro  statesmen  in  States 
where  black  men  are  not  allowed  to  vote?  Mr.  Wat- 
son can  tell  something  about  the  difficulty  of  being 
a  statesman  in  Georgia,  against  the  protest  of  the 
ruling  political  ring.  He  tried  it.  Above  all,  for 
Southern  white  men  to  berate  the  Negro  for  failing 
to  gain  the  highest  rounds  of  distinction  reaches  the 
climax  of  cruel  inconsistency.  One  is  reminded  of 
the  barbarous  Teutons  in  "  Titus  Andronicus"  who, 
after  cutting  out  the  tongue  and  hacking  off  the 
hands  of  the  lovely  Lavinia,  ghoulishly  chided  her 
for  not  calling  for  sweet  water  with  which  to  wash 
her  delicate  hands. 

Here  is  another  specimen  of  the  grade  of  reason- 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       43 

ing  to  which  the  readers  of  Tom  Watson's  Magazine 
are  treated: 

"  Let  me  repeat  to  you,  Doctor,  the  unvarnished 
truth,  for  it  may  do  you  good.  The  advance  made 
by  your  race  in  America  is  the  reflection  of  the  white 
man's  civilization.  Just  that  and  nothing  more. 
The  Negro  lives  in  the  light  of  the  white  man's  civil- 
ization and  reflects  a  part  of  that  light." 

Here  again  we  come  across  the  threadbare  argu- 
ment of  the  advocates  of  suppression  and  subordina- 
tion of  the  Negro.  The  aptitude  of  any  people  for 
progress  is  tested  by  the  readiness  with  which  they 
absorb  and  assimilate  the  environment  of  which  they 
form  a  part.  I  wonder  if  Mr.  Watson  would  con- 
tend that  the  red  Indian  shows  capacity  for  civiliza- 
tion because  he  neither  borrows  nor  imitates. 
Civilization  is  not  a  spontaneous  generation  with  any 
race  or  nation  known  to  history,  but  the  torch  is 
handed  down  from  race  to  race  and  from  age  to  age, 
and  gains  in  brilliancy  as  it  goes.  The  progress 
made  by  the  Negro  has  been  natural  and  inevitable. 
Does  Mr.  Watson  expect  the  American  Negro  to 
invent  an  alphabet  before  he  learns  to  read?  The 
Negro  has  advanced  in  exactly  the  same  fashion  that 
the  white  race  has  advanced,  by  taking  advantage  of 
all  that  has  gone  before.  Other  men  have  labored 
and  we  have  entered  into  their  labors.  The  Japanese 
did  not  invent  the  battleship,  modern  artillery,  or  the 
modern  manual  of  arms,  but  they  use  them  pretty 
effectively.  The  young  race,  like  the  individual, 
must  first  appropriate  and  apply  what  has  already 
gone  before.  The  white  man  has  no  exclusive  pro- 
prietorship of  civilization.  White  man's  civilization 
is  as  much  a  misnomer  as  the  white  man's  multiplica- 
tion table.  It  is  the  equal  inheritance  of  any  one  who 
can    appropriate   and   apply  it.     This   is   the   only 


44  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

practicable  test  of  a  people's  capacity.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  Mr.  Watson  would  say  that  the  million 
white  people  of  Georgia  are  a  very  capable  folk. 
And  yet  how  many  of  them  have  added  anything  to 
the  processes  of  civilization?  They  have  simply  en- 
tered into,  and  carried  on  the  processes  already  es- 
tablished. When  Mr.  Watson  concedes  the  Negro's 
ability  to  do  this  much  he  negatives  the  whole 
argument  of  inferiority. 

You  and  Mr.  Watson,  by  common,  unaccountable 
parallelism,  make  the  same  quotation  from  Buckle's 
"  History  of  Civilization,"  and  in  some  mysterious 
manner  endeavor  to  turn  his  words  to  the  detriment 
of  the  Negro: 

The  discoveries  of  great  men  never  leave  us;  they  are 
immortal,  they  contain  those  eternal  truths  which  survive 
the  shock  of  empires,  outlive  the  struggle  of  rival  creeds 
and  witness  the  decay  of  successive  religions.  The  dis- 
coveries of  genius  alone  remain;  it  is  to  them  we  owe  all 
that  we  now  have;  they  are  for  all  ages  and  all  times; 
never  young  and  never  old,  they  bear  the  seeds  of  their 
own  life,  they  flow  on  in  perennial,  undying  stream;  they 
are  essentially  cumulative,  and  giving  birth  to  additions 
which  they  subsequently  receive,  they  thus  influence  the 
most  distant  posterity,  and  after  lapse  of  centuries  pro- 
duce more  effect  than  they  were  able  to  do  even  at  the 
moment    of    their    promulgation. 

Genius  has  no  age,  no  country,  no  race ;  it  belongs 
to  mankind — who  cares  whether  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
or  Watts  or  Fulton  was  red,  or  white,  or  brown? 
Shakespeare  means  no  more  to  you  than  he  does  to 
me,  except  in  so  far  as  you  may  have  greater  ca- 
pacity of  appreciation  and  enjoyment.  Bacon  and 
Darwin  appeal  to  the  world.  Do  you  think  that 
when  the  candle  of  genius  has  been  lighted  by  fire 
from  above  it  can  be  hid  under  a  bushel  of  racial 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       45 

exclusiveness ?  Nay;  rather,  it  is  set  on  a  candle- 
stick and  gives  light  unto  all  who  grope  in  dark- 
ness. The  Negro  enters  into  the  inheritance  of  all 
the  ages  on  equal  terms  with  the  rest,  and  who  can 
say  that  he  will  not  contribute  his  quota  of  genius 
to  enrich  the  blood  of  the  world? 

The  line  of  argument  of  every  writer  who  under- 
takes to  belittle  the  Negro  is  a  well-beaten  path. 
Liberia  and  Hayti  are  bound  to  come  in  for  their 
share  of  ridicule  and  contemptuous  handling.  Mr. 
Watson  calls  these  experiments  freshly  to  mind,  "  lest 
we  forget,  lest  we  forget."  We  are  told  all  about 
the  incapacity  of  the  black  race  for  self-government, 
the  relapse  into  barbarism,  and  much  more,  all  of 
which  we  have  heard  before;  and  yet  when  we  take 
all  the  circumstances  into  account,  Hayti  presents  to 
the  world  one  of  the  most  remarkable  achievements 
in  the  annals  of  human  history.  The  panegyric  of 
Wendell  Phillips  on  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  is  more 
than  an  outburst  of  rhetorical  fancy;  it  is  a  just 
measure  of  his  achievements  in  terms  of  his  humble 
environment  and  the  limited  instrumentalities  at  his 
command.  Where  else  in  the  course  of  history  has 
a  slave,  with  the  aid  of  slaves,  expelled  a  powerfully 
intrenched  master-class  and  set  up  a  government 
patterned  after  civilized  models,  which  without 
external  assistance  or  reinforcement  from  a  par- 
ent civilization  has  endured  for  a  hundred  years  in 
face  of  a  frowning  world?  When  we  consider  the 
difficulties  that  confront  a  weak  government,  without 
military  or  naval  means  to  cope  with  its  more  power- 
ful rivals,  and  where  commercial  adventurers  are  ever 
and  anon  stirring  up  internal  strife,  thus  provoking 
the  intervention  of  stronger  governments,  the  marvel 
is  that  the  republic  of  Hayti  still  endures,  the  only 
self-governing  State  of  the  Antilles.     To  expect  as 


46  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

effective  and  proficient  government  to  prevail  in 
Hayti  as  at  Washington  would  be  expecting  more 
of  the  black  men  in  Hayti  than  we  find  in  the  white 
men  of  South  America.  And  yet,  I  suspect  that  the 
million  of  Negroes  in  Hayti  are  as  well  governed 
as  the  corresponding  number  of  blacks  in  Georgia, 
where,  only  yesterday,  eight  men  were  taken  from 
the  custody  of  the  law  and  lynched  without  judge  or 
jury.  It  is  often  charged  that  these  people  have 
not  maintained  the  pace  set  by  the  old  master-class, 
that  the  plantations  are  in  ruins  and  that  the  whole 
island  wears  the  aspect  of  dilapidation.  Wherever  a 
lower  people  overrun  the  civilization  of  a  higher  there 
is  an  inevitable  lapse  toward  the  level  of  the  lower. 
When  barbarians  and  semi-civilized  hordes  of  north- 
ern Europe  overran  the  southern  peninsulas  the  civil- 
ization of  the  world  was  wrapped  in  a  thousand  years 
of  darkness.  Relapse  inevitably  precedes  the  re- 
bound. Is  there  anything  in  the  history  of  Hayti 
contrary  to  the  law  of  human  development? 

You  ask :  "  Can  you  change  the  color  of  the 
Negro's  skin,  the  kink  of  his  hair,  the  bulge  of  his 
lip,  or  the  beat  of  his  heart  with  a  spelling-book  or 
a  machine?  "  This  rhetorical  outburst  does  great 
credit  to  your  literary  skill,  and  is  calculated  to 
delight  the  simple ;  but  analysis  fails  to  reveal  in  it 
any  pregnant  meaning.  Since  civilization  is  not  an 
attribute  of  the  color  of  skin,  or  curl  of  hair,  or 
curve  of  lip,  there  is  no  necessity  for  changing  such 
physical  peculiarities,  and  if  there  were,  the  spelling- 
book  and  the  machine  would  be  very  unlikely  instru- 
ments for  its  accomplishment.  But  why,  may  I  ask, 
would  you  desire  to  change  the  Negro's  heart-throb, 
which  already  beats  at  a  normal  human  pace?  You 
need  not  be  so  frantic  about  the  superiority  of  your 
race.     Whatever  superiority  it  may  possess,  inherent 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       47 

or  acquired,  will  take  care  of  itself  without  such 
rabid  support.  Has  it  ever  occurred  to  you  that  the 
people  of  New  England  blood,  who  have  done  and 
are  doing  most  to  make  the  white  race  great  and 
glorious  in  this  land,  are  the  most  reticent  about 
extravagant  claims  to  everlasting  superiority?  You 
protest  too  much.  Your  loud  pretensions,  backed 
up  by  such  exclamatory  outburst  of  passion,  make 
upon  the  reflecting  mind  the  impression  that  you 
entertain  a  sneaking  suspicion  of  their  validity. 

Your  position  as  to  the  work  and  worth  of  Booker 
T.  Washington  is  pitiably  anomalous.  You  recite  the 
story  of  his  upward  struggle  with  uncontrolled  ad- 
miration :  "  The  story  of  this  little  ragged,  bare- 
footed pickaninny,  who  lifted  his  eyes  from  a  cabin 
in  the  hills  of  Virginia,  saw  a  vision  and  followed 
it,  until  at  last  he  presides  over  the  richest  and  most 
powerful  institution  in  the  South,  and  sits  down 
with  crowned  heads  and  presidents,  has  no  parallel 
even  in  the  '  Tales  of  the  Arabian  Nights.'  "  You 
say  that  this  story  appeals  to  the  universal  heart  of 
humanity.  And  yet  in  a  recent  letter  to  the  Colum- 
bia State,  you  say  you  regard  it  as  an  unspeakable 
outrage  that  Mr.  Robert  C.  Ogden  should  walk  arm 
in  arm  with  this  wonderful  man  who  "  appeals  to 
the  heart  of  universal  humanity,"  and  introduce  him 
to  the  lady  clerks  in  a  dry  goods  store.  Your  pas- 
sionate devotion  to  a  narrow  dogma  has  seriously 
impaired  your  sense  of  humor.  The  subject  of  your 
next  great  novel  has  been  announced  as  "  The  Fall 
of  Tuskegee."  In  one  breath  you  commend  the  work 
of  this  great  institution,  while  in  another  you  con- 
demn it  because  it  does  not  fit  into  your  precon- 
ceived scheme  in  the  solution  of  the  race  problem. 
The  Tuskegee  ideal — "  to  make  Negroes  producers, 
lovers  of  labor,  independent,  honest,  and  good  " — is 


48  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

one  which  you  say  that  only  a  fool  or  a  knave  can 
find  fault  with,  because,  in  your  own  words,  "  it  rests 
squarely  upon  the  eternal  verities."  Over  against 
this  you  add  with  all  the  condemnatory  emphasis  of 
italics  and  exclamation  point :  "  Tuskegee  is  not 
a  servant  training-school!"  And  further:  "Mr. 
Washington  is  not  training  Negroes  to  take  their 
places  in  the  industries  of  the  South  in  which  white 
men  direct  and  control  them.  He  is  not  training 
students  to  be  servants  and  come  at  the  beck  and 
call  of  any  man.  He  is  training  them  to  be  masters 
of  men,  to  be  independent,  to  own  and  operate  their 
own  industries,  plant  their  own  fields,  buy  and  sell 
their  own  goods."  All  of  which  you  condemn  by 
imperative  inference  ten  times  stronger  than  your 
faint  and  forced  verbal  approval.  It  is  a  heedless 
man  who  wilfully  flaunts  his  little  philosophy  in  face 
of  the  "  eternal  verities."  When  the  wise  man  finds 
that  his  prejudices  are  running  against  fixed  prin- 
ciples in  God's  cosmic  plan  he  speedily  readjusts 
them  in  harmony  therewith.  Has  it  never  occurred 
to  you  to  re-examine  the  foundation  of  the  faith, 
as  well  as  the  feeling  that  is  in  you,  since  you  admit 
that  it  runs   afoul  of  the  "  eternal  verities  "? 

Mr.  Washington's  motto,  in  his  own  words,  is  that 
"  The  Negro  has  been  worked ;  but  now  he  must 
learn  to  work."  The  man  who  works  for  himself  is 
of  more  service  to  any  community  than  the  man 
whose  labor  is  exploited  by  others.  You  bring  for- 
ward the  traditional  bias  of  the  slave  regime  to  mod- 
ern conditions,  viz.,  that  the  Negro  did  not  exist 
in  his  own  right  and  for  his  own  sake,  but  for  the 
benefit  of  the  white  man.  This  principle  is  as  false 
in  nature  as  it  is  in  morals.  The  naturalists  tell 
us  that  throughout  all  the  range  of  animal  creation 
there  is  found  no  creature  which  exists  for  the  sake 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       49 

of  any  other,  but  each  is  striving  after  its  own  best 
welfare.  Do  you  fear  that  the  Negro's  welfare  is 
incompatible  with  that  of  the  white  man?  I  com- 
mend to  you  a  careful  perusal  of  the  words  of  Mr. 
E.  Gardner  Murphy,  who,  like  yourself,  is  a  devoted 
Southerner,  and  is  equally  zealous  to  promote  the 
highest  interest  of  that  section :  "  Have  prosperity, 
peace,  and  happiness  ever  been  successfully  or  per- 
manently based  upon  indolence,  inefficiency,  and 
hopelessness?  Since  time  began,  has  any  human 
thing  that  God  has  made  taken  damage  to  itself  or 
brought  damage  to  the  world  through  knowledge, 
truth,  hope,  and  honest  toil?  "  Read  these  words 
of  your  fellow  Southerner,  Mr.  Dixon,  and  meditate 
upon  them ;  they  will  do  you  good  as  the  truth  doeth 
the  upright  in  heart. 

You  quote  me  as  being  in  favor  of  the  amalga- 
mation of  the  races.  A  more  careful  reading  of  the 
article  referred  to  would  have  convinced  you  that  I 
was  arguing  against  amalgamation  as  a  probable 
solution  of  the  race  problem.  I  merely  stated  the 
intellectual  conviction  that  two  races  cannot  live 
indefinitely  side  by  side,  under  the  same  general  re- 
gime, without  ultimately  fusing.  This  was  merely 
the  expression  of  a  belief,  and  not  the  utterance  of 
a  preference  nor  the  formulation  of  a  policy.  I  know 
of  no  colored  man  who  advocates  amalgamation  as  a 
feasible  policy  of  solution.  You  are  mistaken.  The 
Negro  does  not  "  hope  and  dream  of  amalgamation." 
This  would  be  self-stultification  with  a  vengeance. 
If  such  a  policy  were  allowed  to  dominate  the  imag- 
ination of  the  colored  race  its  women  would  give 
themselves  over  to  the  unrestrained  passion  of  white 
men,  in  quest  of  tawny  offspring,  which  would  give 
rise  to  a  state  of  indescribable  moral  debauchery. 
At   the   same   time,   you   would   hardly    expect   the 


50  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Negro,  in  derogation  of  his  common  human  qualities, 
to  proclaim  that  he  is  so  diverse  from  God's  other 
human  creatures  as  to  make  the  blending  of  the  races 
contrary  to  the  law  of  nature.  The  Negro  refuses 
to  become  excited  or  share  in  your  frenzy  on  this 
•  subject.  The  amalgamation  of  the  races  is  an  ulti- 
mate possibility,  though  not  an  immediate  proba- 
bility. But  what  have  you  and  I  to  do  with  ultimate 
questions,  anyway?  Our  concern  is  with  duty,  not 
destiny.  There  are  statisticians  who  can  tell  you, 
to  the  tick  of  the  clock,  when  the  last  ton  of  coal 
in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  will  be  consumed ;  but  you 
will  not  lower  the  temperature  of  your  sitting-room 
one  degree  next  winter  in  view  of  that  ultimate  con- 
tingency. The  exhaustion  of  solar  heat  is  within  the 
purview  of  astronomical  calculation,  and  yet  we  eat 
and  drink  and  make  merry  in  supreme  indifference 
to  that  far-off  calamitous  event.  Do  you  not  sup- 
pose that  the  future  generations  will  have  wisdom 
adequate  to  the  problems  of  their  day?  We  cer- 
tainly have  no  surplus  wisdom  to  advance  them. 
Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  ignorance  thereof. 
Your  frantic  dread  of  amalgamation  reminds  me  of 
those  religionists  who  would  frighten  a  heedless  world 
into  the  belief  that  the  end  is  at  hand.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  you  voluntarily  unfrocked  yourself  as 
a  priest  of  God,  where  your  function  was  to  save  the 
individual  soul  from  punishment  in  the  next  world,  in 
order  that  you  might  the  more  effectively  warn  your 
race  to  flee  from  amalgamation  as  from  the  wrath 
to  come. 

But  do  you  know,  Mr.  Dixon,  that  you  are  prob- 
ably the  foremost  promoter  of  amalgamation  be- 
tween the  two  oceans?  Wherever  you  narrow  the 
scope  of  the  Negro  by  preaching  the  doctrine  of  hate 
you  drive  thousands  of  persons  of  lighter  hue  over  to 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       51 

the  white  race,  carrying  more  or  less  Negro  blood 
in   their  train.     The  blending  of  the  races   is   less 
likely   to  take  place  if  the   self-respect   and  manly         .#*•  \ 
opportunity  of  the  Negro  are  respected  and  encour-  yJ   .e**1 
aged  than  if  he  is  to  be  forever  crushed  beneath  the  -^i»*  c<* 
level  of  his  faculties  for  dread  of  the  fancied  result.    C*     -c ♦* 
Hundreds  of  the  composite  progeny  are  daily  cross-    t*        » 
ing  the  color  line  and  carrying  as  much  of  the  de-     ^      y 
spised  blood  as  an  albicant  skin  can  conceal  without    \*t      t 
betrayal.     I  believe  that  it  was  Congressman  Till-      *f  fft 
man,  brother  of  the  more  famous   Senator  of  that 
name,  who  stated  on  the  floor  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  South  Carolina  that  he  knew  of  four 
hundred  white  families  in  that  State  who  had  a  taint 
of  Negro  blood  in  their  veins.     I  personally  know, 
or  know  of,  fifty  cases  of  transition  in  the  city  of 
Washington.     It  is  a  momentous  thing  for  one  to 
change  one's  caste.     The  man  or  woman  who  affects 
to   deny,  ignore,   or  scorn   the  class  with  whom  he 
previously  associated  is  usually  deemed  deficient  in 
the   nobler   qualities    of   human   nature.     It   is   not 
conceivable  that  persons  of  this  class  would  undergo  ^Jb^ 
the  self-degradation  and  humiliation  of  soul  neces-  Ls**^* 
sary  to  cross  the  great  "  social  divide  "  unless  it  be   jf^^T 
to  escape  for  themselves   and  their  descendants   an        v^~ 
odious  and  despised  status.     Your  oft-expressed  and 
passionately  avowed  belief  that  the  progressive  de- 
velopment of  the  Negro  would  hasten  amalgamation 
is  not  borne  out  by  the  facts  of  observation.     The 
refined   and   cultivated   class   among  colored  people 
are  as  much  disinclined  to  such  unions  as  the  whites 
themselves.     I  am  sorry  that  you  saw  fit  to  charac- 
terize Frederick  Douglass  as  "  a  bombastic  vituper- 
ator."     You  thereby  gave  poignant  offense  to  ten 
millions  of  his  race  who  regard  him  as  the  best  em- 
bodiment of  their  possibilities.     Besides,  millions  of 


52  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

your  race  rate  him  among  the  foremost  and  best  be- 
loved of  Americans.  How  would  you  feel  if  some 
one  should  stigmatize  Jefferson  Davis  or  Robert  E. 
Lee  in  such  language,  these  beau  ideals  of  your 
Southern  heart?  But  I  will  not  undertake  to  de- 
fend Frederick  Douglass  against  your  caluminations. 
I  am  frank  to  confess  that  I  do  not  feel  that  he 
needs  it.  The  point  I  have  in  mind  to  make  about 
Mr.  Douglass  is  that  he  has  a  hold  upon  the  affection 
of  his  race,  not  on  account  of  his  second  marriage, 
but  in  spite  of  it.  He  seriously  affected  his  standing 
with  his  people  by  that  marriage. 

Degradation  would  soonest  lead  to  race  blending 
through  illicitness.  Had  the  institution  of  slavery 
existed  for  another  century  without  fresh  African 
importation  there  would  scarcely  have  remained  an 
unbleached  Negro  on  the  continent.  The  best  pos- 
sible evidence  that  the  development  of  self-respect 
does  not  lead  to  amalgamation  is  furnished  by  Ober- 
lin  College  in  Ohio  and  by  Berea  College  in  Ken- 
tucky. These  institutions  have  had  thousands  of 
students  of  the  two  races,  male  and  female,  associ- 
ating on  terms  of  personal  equality,  mutual  respect, 
and  good  will,  and  yet  in  all  these  years  not  a  single 
case  of  miscegenation  has  resulted.  Contrast  this 
record  with  the  concubinage  of  the  Southern  plan- 
tation and  the  illicit  relations  of  the  city  slum,  and 
it  is  easy  to  see  where  the  chief  stress  should  be 
placed  by  those  who  so  frantically  dread  race  admix- 
ture. 

It  seems  to  me,  Mr.  Dixon,  that  this  frantic  ab- 
horrence of  amalgamation  is  a  little  late  in  its  ap- 
pearance. Whence  comes  this  stream  of  white  blood 
which  flows,  with  more  or  less  spissitude,  in  the  veins 
of  some  six  out  of  ten  million  Negroes?  It  is  due 
to  the  bleaching  breath  of  Saxon  civilization.     The 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       53 

Afro-American  is  hardly  a  Negro  at  all,  but  a  new 
creature.  Who  brought  about  this  present  approach- 
ment  between  the  races?  Do  you  not  appreciate  the 
inconsistency  in  the  attitude  and  the  action  on  the 
part  of  many  of  the  loud-mouthed  advocates  of  race 
purity?  It  is  said  that  old  Father  Cronos  devoured 
his  offspring  in  order  to  forestall  future  complica- 
tions. But  we  do  not  learn  that  he  put  a  bridle  upon 
his  passion  as  the  surest  means  of  security.  The  most 
effective  service  you  can  render  to  check  the  evil  of 
amalgamation  is  to  do  missionary  work  among  the 
males  of  your  own  race.  This  strenuous  advocacy 
of  race  purity  in  face  of  proved  proneness  for  mis- 
cegenation affords  a  striking  reminder  of  the  lines 
of  Hudibras: 


The   self-same    thing   they    will    abhor, 
One   way,   and   long   another   for." 


I  beg  now  to  call  your  attention  to  one  or  two 
statements  of  fact.  You  state  that  "  only  one-third 
of  the  cotton  crop  is  to-day  raised  by  Negro  labor." 
I  would  like  to  ask,  what  is  your  authority  for  that 
statement?  According  to  the  twelfth  census,  the 
latest  available  data  on  the  subject,  out  of  a  total 
cotton  crop  of  9,534,707  bales  for  1899,  Negro 
proprietors  alone  produced  3,707,881  bales,  or  39 
per  cent,  of  the  total  crop.  There  were  746,715 
such  proprietors,  against  1,418,343  Negro  agricul- 
tural laborers.  If  we  suppose  that  these  hired  labor- 
ers were  as  efficient  as  the  more  independent  tenants, 
it  will  be  seen  that,  instead  of  raising  only  one-third, 
the  Negro's  immediate  labor  produced  practically 
all  of  the  cotton  crop  of  the  South. 

Again,  you  say  that  "  we  have  spent  about  $800,- 
000,000  on  Negro  education  since  the  war."     This 


54  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

statement  is  so  very  wide  of  the  mark  that  I  was 
disposed  to  regard  it  as  a  misprint,  if  you  had  not 
reinforced  it  with  an  application  implying  a  like 
amount.  In  the  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Education 
for  1901  the  estimated  expenditure  for  Negro  edu- 
cation in  all  the  former  slave  States  since  the  Civil 
War  is  put  down  at  $121,184,568.  The  amount 
contributed  by  Northern  philanthropy  during  that 
interval  is  variously  estimated  from  fifty  to  seventy- 
five  millions.  Your  estimate  is  four  times  too  large. 
It  would  be  interesting  and  informing  to  the  world 
if  you  would  reveal  the  source  of  your  information. 
These  misstatements  of  fact  are  not  of  so  much  im- 
portance in  themselves  as  that  they  serve  to  warn 
the  reader  against  the  accuracy  and  value  of  your 
general  judgments.  It  would  seem  that  you  derive 
your  figures  of  arithmetic  from  the  same  source  from 
which  you  fashion  your  figures  of  speech.  You  will 
not  blame  the  reader  for  not  paying  much  heed  to 
your  sweeping  generalizations  when  you  are  at  such 
little  pains  as  to  the  accuracy  of  easily  ascertainable 
data. 

Your  proposed  solution  of  the  race  problem  by 
colonizing  the  Negroes  in  Liberia  reaches  the  climax 
of  absurdity.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  such  a  propo- 
sition could  emanate  from  a  man  of  your  reputa- 
tion. Did  you  consult  Cram's  Atlas  about  Liberia? 
Please  do  so.  You  will  find  that  it  has  an  area  of 
48,000  square  miles  and  a  population  of  1,500,000, 
natives  and  immigrants.  The  area  and  population 
are  about  the  same  as  those  of  North  Carolina,  which, 
I  believe,  is  your  native  State.  When  you  tell  us 
that  this  restricted  area,  without  commerce,  without 
manufacture,  without  any  system  of  organized  in- 
dustry, can  support  every  Negro  in  America,  in  addi- 
tion to  its  present  population,  I  beg  mildly  to  sug- 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       55 

gest  that  you  recall  your  plan  for  revision  before 
submitting  it  to  the  judgment  of  a  critical  world. 
Your  absolute  indifference  to  the  facts,  and  your 
heedlessness  of  the  circumstances  and  conditions  in- 
volved in  the  scheme  of  colonization,  well  befit  the 
absurdity  of  the  general  proposition. 

The  solution  of  the  race  problem  in  America  is 
indeed  a  grave  and  serious  matter.  It  is  one  that 
calls  for  statesmanlike  breadth  of  view,  philanthropic 
tolerance  of  spirit,  and  exact  social  knowledge.  The 
whole  spirit  of  your  propaganda  is  to  add  to  its 
intensity  and  aggravation.  You  stir  the  slumber- 
ing fires  of  race  wrath  into  an  uncontrollable  flame. 
I  have  read  somewhere  that  Max  Nordau,  on  reading 
"  The  Leopard's  Spots,"  wrote  to  you  suggesting 
the  awful  responsibility  you  had  assumed  in  stirring 
up  enmity  between  race  and  race.  Your  teachings 
subvert  the  foundations  of  law  and  established  order. 
You  are  the  high  priest  of  lawlessness,  the  prophet 
of  anarchy.  Rudyard  Kipling  places  this  sentiment 
in  the  mouth  of  the  reckless  stealer  of  seals  in  the 
Northern  Sea :  "  There's  never  a  law  of  God  nor 
man  runs  north  of  fifty-three."  This  description 
exactly  fits  the  brand  of  literature  with  which  you 
are  flooding  the  public.  You  openly  urge  your 
fellow-citizens  to  override  all  law,  human  and  divine. 
Are  you  aware  of  the  force  and  effect  of  these  words  ? 
"  Could  fatuity  reach  a  sublimer  height  than  the 
idea  that  the  white  man  will  stand  idly  by  and  see  the 
performance?  What  will  he  do  when  put  to  the  test? 
He  will  do  exactly  what  his  white  neighbor  in  the 
North  does  when  the  Negro  threatens  his  bread — 
kill  him !  "  These  words  breathe  out  hatred  and 
slaughter  and  suggest  the  murder  of  innocent  men 
whose  only  crime  is  quest  for  the  God-given  right 
to  work.     You  poison  the  mind  and  pollute  the  imag- 


56  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

ination  through  the  subtle  influence  of  literature. 
Are  you  aware  of  the  force  and  effect  of  evil  sugges- 
tion when  the  passions  of  men  are  in  a  state  of  un- 
stable equilibrium?  A  heterogeneous  population, 
where  the  elements  are,  on  any  account,  easily  dis- 
tinguishable, is  an  easy  prey  for  the  promoter  of 
wrath.  The  fuse  is  already  prepared  for  the  spark. 
The  soul  of  the  mob  is  stirred  by  suggestion  of 
hatred  and  slaughter,  as  a  famished  beast  at  the 
smell  of  blood.  Hatred  is  the  ever-handy  dynamic 
of  the  demagogue.  The  rabble  responds  much  more 
readily  to  an  appeal  to  passion  than  to  reason.  To 
stir  wantonly  the  fires  of  race  antipathy  is  as  execra- 
ble a  deed  as  flaunting  a  red  rag  in  the  face  of 
a  bull  at  a  summer's  picnic,  or  raising  a  false 
cry  of  "  fire "  in  a  crowded  house.  Human 
society  could  not  exist  one  hour  except  on  the 
basis  of  law  which  holds  the  baser  passions  of  men 
in  restraint. 

In  our  complex  situation  it  is  only  the  rigid  ob- 
servance of  law  reinforced  by  higher  moral  restraint 
that  can  keep  these  passions  in  bound.  You  speak 
about  giving  the  Negro  a  "  square  deal."  Even 
among  gamblers,  a  "  square  deal  "  means  to  play 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  game.  The  rules  which 
all  civilized  States  have  set  for  themselves  are  found 
in  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Golden  Rule,  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  the  organic  law  of  the 
land.  You  acknowledge  no  such  restraints  when  the 
Negro  is  involved,  but  waive  them  all  aside  with 
frenzied  defiance.  You  preside  at  every  crossroad 
lynching  of  a  helpless  victim ;  wherever  the  midnight 
murderer  rides  with  rope  and  torch  in  quest  of  the 
blood  of  his  black  brother,  you  ride  by  his  side; 
wherever  the  cries  of  the  crucified  victim  go  up  to 
God  from  the  crackling  flame,  behold,  you  are  there ; 


AS    TO    THE    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS       57 

when  women  and  children,  drunk  with  ghoulish  glee, 
dance  around  the  funeral  pyre  and  mock  the  death 
groans  of  their  fellow-man  and  fight  for  ghastly 
souvenirs,  you  have  your  part  in  the  inspiration  of 
it  all.  When  guilefully  guided  workmen  in  mine  and 
shop  and  factory,  goaded  by  a  real  or  imaginary 
sense  of  wrong,  begin  the  plunder  and  pillage  of 
property  and  murder  of  rival  men,  your  suggestion 
is  justifier  of  the  dastardly  doings.  Lawlessness  is 
gnawing  at  the  very  vitals  of  our  institutions.  It  is 
the  supreme  duty  of  every  enlightened  mind  to  allay 
rather  than  spur  on  this  spirit.  You  are  hastening 
the  time  when  there  is  to  be  a  positive  and  emphatic 
show  of  hands — not  of  white  hands  against  black 
hands,  God  forbid!  not  of  Northern  hands  against 
Southern  hands,  heaven  forfend!  but  a  determined 
show  of  those  who  believe  in  law  and  God  and  con- 
stituted order,  against  those  who  would  undermine 
and  destroy  the  organic  basis  of  society,  involving 
all  in  a  common  ruin.  No  wonder  Max  Nordau  ex- 
claimed :  "  God,  man,  are  you  aware  of  your  respon- 
sibility !  " 

But  do  not  think,  Mr.  Dixon,  that  when  you  evoke 
the  evil  spirit  you  can  exorcise  him  at  will.  The 
Negro  in  the  end  will  be  the  least  of  his  victims. 
Those  who  become  inoculated  with  the  virus  of  race 
hatred  are  more  unfortunate  than  the  victims  of  it. 
Voltaire  tells  us  that  it  is  more  difficult  and  more 
meritorious  to  wean  men  of  their  prejudices  than  it 
is  to  civilize  the  barbarian.  Race  hatred  is  the  most 
malignant  poison  that  can  afflict  the  mind.  It 
freezes  up  the  font  of  inspiration  and  chills  the  higher 
faculties  of  the  soul.  You  are  a  greater  enemy  to 
your  own  race  than  you  are  to  mine. 

Permit  me  to  close  this  letter  with  a  citation  from 
Goldsmith's  "  Elegy  on  a  Mad  Dog."     Please  note 


58  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  reference  is  descriptive  and  prophetic  of  the  fate 
of  the  wreakers  of  wrath  and  the  victims  of  it. 

"  This  man  and  dog  at  first  were  friends, 

But    when    a    pique    began, 
The    dog   to    gain    some   private   ends, 

Went   mad   and   bit   the    man. 

"  Around   from  all  the  neighboring  streets, 

The    wondering    neighbors    ran, 
And  swore  the  dog  had  lost  his  wits, 

To    bite    so    good    a   man. 

"  The    wound    it   seemed    both    sore    and    sad 

To   every   Christian   eye, 
And   while    they   swore   the    dog   was   mad 

They    swore    the    man    would    die. 

"  But    soon   a   wonder    came    to   light, 

That    show'd    the    rogues    they    lied, 
The  man   recovered  of  the  bite; 

The   dog   it   was   that   died." 

I  have  written  you  thus  fully  in  order  that  you 
may  clearly  understand  how  the  case  lies  in  the 
Negro's  mind.  If  any  show  of  feeling  or  bitterness 
of  spirit  crops  out  in  my  treatment  of  the  subject, 
or  between  the  lines,  my  letter  is,  at  least,  wholly 
without  vindictive  intent;  but  is  the  inevitable  out- 
come of  dealing  with  issues  that  verge  upon  the  deep- 
est human  passion. 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON    ON    THE    RACE 
PROBLEM 

an  open  letter  to  john  temple  graves 
suggested  by  the  atlanta  riot 

October,  1906. 
Mr.  John  Temple  Graves, 
Atlanta,  Georgia. 

My  Dear  Sir:  The  world  has  read  with  horror  of 
the  Atlanta  massacre  and  of  the  part  you  played 
during  that  awful  hour.  The  outbreak  is  but  the 
fruits  of  the  seeds  of  race  wrath  which  you  and 
others  have  been  assiduously  sowing.  They  who  sow 
the  wind  may  expect  to  reap  the  whirWind. 

Your  open  appeal  to  the  passion*  of  the  American 
people  while  this  riot  was  yet  at  its  height  was 
fraught  with  evil  suggestiveness.  That  half  the  peo- 
ple of  Atlanta  were  not  slain  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
other  counsel  than  yours  prevailed.  The  rabble  is 
ever  actuated  by  sinister  influence.  It  obeys  the  ac- 
quiescent nod  of  secret  understanding.  There  is  a 
wireless  communication  between  the  baser  elements 
of  society  and  the  cunning  instigator  who  provokes 
them  to  wrath.  Shakespeare  with  inimitable  faith- 
fulness has  described  the  inner  workings  of  this  sub- 
tle and  guilty  control  whereby  the  obsequious  is 
prone  to  take  the  humor  of  the  mighty  for  a  warrant 
"  to  break  within  the  bloody  house  of  life  "  on  the 
winking  of  authority. 

After    a   wide   scanning   of   the    American   press, 
59 


' 


60  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

yours  is  the  only  voice  which  I  have  heard,  South 
or  North,  white  or  black,  still  breathing  out  hatred 
and  slaughter  amidst  this  awful  carnival  of  blood. 
You  alone  occupy  that  "  bad  eminence."  You  broke 
the  unanimity  of  appeal  to  reason  when  wild  passion 
had  reached  its  whitest  heat. 

Your  attitude  contrasted  with  that  of  the  fore- 
most member  of  the  afflicted  race  measures  the  whole 
diameter  of  difference  between  cruelty  and  mercy. 
While  Negroes,  innocent  of  any  crime,  were  suffering 
torture  which  would  cause  even  the  bruised  worm 
to  turn,  Booker  T.  Washington,  with  Christ-like  for- 
giveness of  spirit,  counseled  his  people  to  resist  not 
evil. 

The  natural  impulse  of  one  belonging  to  the  vic- 
tim race  is  to  indulge  in  indignant  and  bitter  words. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  repress  this  natural  ebul- 
lition of  feeling.  When  human  nature  is  so  fla- 
grantly outraged  the  very  stones  would  cry  out  if 
men  should  hold  their  peace.  It  requires  the  highest 
self-repression  and  poise  of  spirit  to  refrain  from 
verbal  vehemence.  But  the  voice  of  wisdom  counsels 
only  such  expression  as  will  tend  to  relieve  rather 
than  to  intensify  the  strain  of  a  critical  situation. 

I  wish  to  utilize  this  gruesome  occasion  to  discuss 
in  an  epistolary  form  some  of  the  issues  growing 
out  of  race  relations  in  this  country.  I  shall  strive 
to  be  entirely  courteous  and  considerate,  and  yet  I 
shall  abate  no  whit  the  fullest  candor  and  plainness 
of  statement  demanded  of  one  who  speaks  for  the 
best  interests  of  his  people.  Even  an  ambassador  in 
bonds  should  speak  with  becoming  boldness.  There 
is  a  lamentable  lack  of  expression  which  is  at  once 
candid  and  considerate,  as  respects  the  attitude  of 
one  race  toward  the  other.  We  are  prone  to  indulge 
in  either  wild,  ungoverned  onslaught,  or  diplomatic 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  61 

dissimilation  and  prudential  concealment  of  real  opin- 
ion and  feeling.  Honesty  of  utterance  is  usually 
accompanied  with  such  ruthless  and  brutal  frank- 
ness on  the  one  hand,  and  resentful  defiance  on  the 
other,  as  to  render  rational  discussion  impossible; 
while  considerate  temperament  is  too  often  given  to 
indulgence  in  such  fulsome  flattery  or  unmanly  yield- 
ance  as  to  make  wholesome  discussion  unprofitable. 
Several  years  ago  I  sat  on  the  platform  of  a  meeting 
in  Atlanta  composed  of  about  equal  numbers  of  the 
two  races.  If  I  mistake  not,  you  were  present  on 
that  occasion.  Local  representatives  on  both  sides 
of  the  race  line  vied  with  each  other  in  vowing  ra- 
cial affection  and  ties  of  endearment.  Words  could 
go  no  further  in  expressing  friendly  relationship. 
But  as  I  sat  there,  I  divined,  as  I  thought,  a  hidden 
spirit  not  revealed  in  the  spoken  words,  which  seemed 
to  me  to  be  simply  verbal  civilities  and  diplomatic 
platitudes.  When  the  meeting  adjourned  each  went 
to  his  own  company  with  no  surer  knowledge  of  the 
real  feeling  or  purpose  of  the  other  than  when  it 
convened. 

Mr.  Thomas  Nelson  Page  has  suggested  in  his 
recent  book  that  the  time  has  come  for  the  best 
representatives  of  both  races  to  meet  together  in 
conference  on  matters  vitally  concerning  the  common 
weal.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  value  of  such 
conference  will  depend  upon  the  candor  and  frank- 
ness of  spirit  on  both  sides.  The  strained  relation 
between  the  races  calls  for  the  temper  and  spirit  of 
a  statesmanship  which  discards  wild  hysterics  and  the 
heated  passion  of  the  moment,  and  sanely  safeguards 
the  interests  of  all  the  people.  We  are  confronted 
with  a  problem  whose  factors  are  as  intricate  and 
whose  outcome  is  as  far-reaching  as  any  that  has 
ever  taxed  human  wisdom  for  solution. 


62  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

I  am  addressing  this  letter  to  you  not  merely 
because  of  the  leading  part  which  you  played  in  the 
recent  eruption,  but  also  because  you  stand  for  a 
policy  and  propaganda  whose  fatuity  it  fully  re- 
veals. It  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  arouse  the  evil 
spirit.  It  will  turn  again  and  rend  you.  The  re- 
cent Atlanta  outbreak  fully  illustrates  the  folly  of 
appealing  to  the  baser  passion,  especially  in  a  parti- 
colored community. 

Have  you  stopped  to  consider  the  cause  and  out- 
come of  Atlanta's  shame?  The  State  of  Georgia 
had  been  lashed  into  fury  for  more  than  a  year  of 
bitter  race  discussion.  The  atmosphere  was  ominous 
and  tense.  The  fuse  was  ready  for  the  spark.  There 
were  assaults  or  rumors  of  assaults  by  black  or  black- 
ened fiends,  upon  white  women,  in  and  around  At- 
lanta. These  were  eagerly  seized  upon  and  exag- 
gerated by  an  inflammatory  press.  They  became  the 
alarum  and  rallying  cry  about  which  the  pent-up 
wrath  of  race  found  vent.  Red  journalism  ran  rife. 
The  terrorized  imaginations  saw  a  fiend  incarnate 
in  every  darksome  face.  One  paper,  a  little  redder 
than  the  rest,  boldly  offered  a  reward  for  a  lynching 
bee  in  the  capital  of  the  Empire  State  of  the  South. 
The  flaring  headlines  fanned  the  fire  into  a  furious 
flame.  The  evil  passion  of  a  people  always  finds 
lodgment  in  the  breast  of  its  basest  members.  The 
half-grown,  half-drunk,  half-savage  descendants  of 
Oglethorpe's  colonists  can  no  longer  contain  them- 
selves. Like  the  Indian  on  the  war-path,  they  must 
have  a  savage  yell.  "  Kill  the  Negro  brutes  "  is 
the  tocsin.  They  kill  and  beat  and  bruise  Negroes 
on  sight.  The  air  is  filled  with  ghoulish  yells,  min- 
gled with  the  shrieks  and  groans  of  the  mangled  and 
dying.  Although  the  hollow  cry  of  virtue  is  ever 
on    the    lip,    the   mob    has    no    more    conception    of 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  63 

righteousness  than  a  bloodhound  set  upon  a  scent 
cares  about  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  his  quarry. 
The  aroused  appetite  for  blood  must  be  satiated. 
The  police  sprinkle  the  mob  with  the  water  hose; 
but  they  laugh  at  this  complaisant  impotency  and 
joke  with  the  mayor  over  the  awful  deeds  of  death, 
and  cry  out  louder  for  blood.  The  Negroes  are  in 
seclusion ;  the  liquor  dens  are  closed ;  red  headlines 
are  suppressed  in  the  local  press.  The  fury  of  the 
mob  ceases  when  it  has  nothing  further  to  feed  on. 
Twenty  innocent  Negroes  are  dead.  The  guilty  es- 
cape amid  the  slaughter  of  the  innocent.  Not  a 
single  criminal  has  been  touched.  No  evil  propen- 
sity has  been  eradicated.  As  the  spasm  of  delirium 
relaxes  the  city's  name  stands  tarnished  before  the 
world.  The  sin  of  it,  the  shame  of  it  will  abide  for 
many  a  day.  The  Negroes  emerge  bleeding  and 
torn;  the  whites  are  dumbfounded  at  the  evil  possi- 
bilities of  their  baser  class.  The  race  problem  still 
remains  unsolved  and  the  remedy  for  evil  unsug- 
gested.  No  knot  is  untied  in  the  tangled  web.  Such 
is  the  fatuity  of  your  doctrine  that  the  Negro  must 
be  controlled  through  the  terror  of  t.frfl  fie^se^      -^ 

Atlanta  may  be  regarded  as  the  Athens  of  the 
South.  It  abounds  in  schools  and  colleges  for  both 
races.  Here  is  the  home  of  many  of  the  most  illus- 
trious names  in  the  South.  Here  lived  the  late  Henry 
W.  Grady,  the  oracle  of  the  New  South.  Joel 
Chandler  Harris  and  Clark  Howell  wield  a  journal- 
istic and  literary  influence  second  to  none  of  that 
section.  Among  the  Negroes  Atlanta  is  noted  for 
its  increasing  class  of  cultivated  and  refined  people. 
Bowen,  DuBois,  and  Crogman  are  men  of  light  and 
leading,  whose  influence  and  power  for  good  have 
gone  out  to  all  the  land ;  and  yet  deliberate  appeal  to 
race  passion  may  involve  this  community,  with  so 


64  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

many  influences  of  refinement  and  restraint,  in  riot 
and  ruin  in  a  single  night. 

While  the  Atlanta  riot  still  raged,  a  hurricane  was 
blowing  up  from  the  tropics  which  destroyed  hun- 
dreds of  lives  and  millions  of  property  in  several 
Southern  cities.  But  there  was  no  blood-guiltiness. 
These  cities  will  bury  their  dead  and  rebuild  their 
waste  places  and  pursue  their  path  of  peace  and 
progress,  forgetful  and  unregretful  of  this  disas- 
trous touch  of  nature.  But  the  stain  of  Atlanta  will 
abide.  Immigration  and  capital  will  shun  a  mob- 
ruled  city  as  they  would  a  place  infected  with  pesti- 
lence and  death.  The  evil  passion  of  man  is  more  to 
be  dreaded  than  the  terror  of  earthquake  or  storm. 

You  represent  the  ultra  type  of  opinion  and  feel- 
ing which  find  lodgment  in  the  breast  of  the  lower 
order  of  your  own  race.  You  would  shut  the^Negro 
out  from  competition  on  th"e~Harfow  and  intolerant 
theory  that  there  may  not  be  enough  "  for  you  and 
us."  Fearful  that  the  tree  of  civilization  is  not  big 
enough  to  bear  fruit  for  all,  you  would  deny  the 
black  man  the  God-given  right  to  stretch  forth  his 
hand  and  partake  of  its  fullness. 

You  are  a  disciple  of  Senator  Tillman,  who  is  the 
guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  of  those  who  worship 
at  the  shrine  of  racial  narrowness  and  hate. 

Mr.  William  Garrott  Brown,  a  scion  of  the  tradi- 
tional South,  tells  us  in  his  most  interesting  book 
on  "  The  Lower  South  in  American  History  "  that 
"  the  triumph  of  the  Tillmanites  in  South  Carolina 
worked  a  change  in  the  internal  policies  of  that  State 
deeper  than  the  change  in  1776  and  1860."  When  we 
study  the  deep  significance  of  the  Tillman  movement, 
we  find  that  these  words  convey  only  the  sober  truth. 
The  Tillman  influence  is  by  no  means  limited  to  his 
own  State,  but  is  equally  potent  in  all  parts  of  the 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  65 

South.  The  more  cautious  and  considerate  leaders 
have  followed  in  his  wake,  while  they  have  not  cared 
openly  to  acknowledge  his  regency.  Rough,  ready, 
quick-witted,  of  blunt  and  bitter  speech,  unschooled, 
unrestrained  by  traditional  amenities,  Benjamin  R. 
Tillman  has  become  the  embodiment  and  expounder 
of  the  rule  of  the  nether  whites.  In  this  scheme  of 
government  the  Negro  has  no  part  or  parcel,  ex- 
cept to  be  ruled  with  a  rod  of  iron.  The  old  aristo- 
cratic class  is  accorded  only  such  influence  as  it 
may  gain  by  seeming  to  conform  to  the  spirit  of  those 
whom  it  formerly  regarded  with  scorn.  The  tra- 
ditional society  of  the  South  was  based  upon  belief 
in  the  Negro's  complaisant  subordination.  The  Till-  t^ 
man  regime  is  based  upon  the  fear  that,  after  all, 
the  Negro  might  not  be  inferior.  He  is  deprived  of 
his  rights  lest  he  develop  suspected  power.  Tillman 
openly  proclaims  that  he  intends  to  keep  the  serpent 
frozen.  The  Devils  also  believe  and  tremble.  The 
shifting  of  the  seat  of  power  from  the  upper  to  the 
lower  stratum  marks  indeed  a  momentous  transforma- 
tion. The  Senate  seats  once  held  by  Calhoun  and 
Jefferson  Davis,  and  later  by  Hampton  and  Lamar, 
are  now  occupied  by  Tillman  and  Williams. 

Up  to  the  time  of  Tillman's  advent  opposition  to 
the  aristocratic  regime  took  the  form  of  combining 
the  cause  of  the  poorer  whites  with  that  of  the  Ne- 
groes in  bonds  of  political  union.  By  this  means,  Ma- 
hone  won  in  Virginia,  Pritchard  and  Butler  in  North 
Carolina,  while  Cobb  and  Watson  led  their  following 
to  glorious  and,  as  they  claimed,  fraudulent  defeat  in 
Alabama  and  Georgia.  Tillman  was  the  first  to  pitch 
the  poor  whites  against  the  Negro  in  fierce  and  bitter 
array.  He  understood  the  dynamic  power  of  hatred*/^ 
He  won,  and  put  an  end  to  the  aristocratic  dynasty 
in  the  South.     No  longer  does  any  faction  form  po- 


66  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

litical  alliance  with  the  Negro.  Wade  Hampton 
threw  out  the  olive  branch,  which  was  rejected.  Now 
all  factions  vie  with  each  other  in  denunciation  of 
this  race.  Even  the  lily  whites,  a  new  variety  of  po- 
litical exotics,  which,  like  their  botanical  prototype, 
neither  toil  nor  spin,  but  array  themselves  in  the 
victory  and  spoils  of  office,  have  caught  the  conta- 
gion. 

A  novus  homo,  a  Pharaoh,  who  knows  not  Joseph 
the  black,  is  now  on  the  throne.  The  novice  states- 
men who  are  now  so  frantic  about  white  supremacy 
are  experiencing  the  first  delirium  of  power.  Under 
the  old  regime  they  were  rigorously  excluded  from 
political  authority.  They  never  owned  a  slave  nor 
anything  else.  But  now  the  old  line  aristocrats  ha- 
bituated to  governmental  control  must  obey  the  be- 
hests of  their  new  and  numerous  allies.  They  are 
forced  to  sacrifice  both  their  statesmanlike  breadth  of 
view  and  traditional  chivalric  spirit. 

Mr.  E.  Gardner  Murphy  asks  with  affirmative, 
though  solicitous,  intimation :  "  Is  the  organization 
of  Democracy  in  the  South  never  to  include  the 
Negro?  Is  he  never  to  be  a  factor  in  the  govern-  / 
ment  and  heir  to  a  free  and  generous  life  ?  "  Sena-  */ 
tor  Tillman  answers  with  a  bitter  and  defiant  nega- 
tive. He  declares  with  vehement  asseveration  that 
the  black  man  will  ever  be  excluded  from  a  partici- 
pating part  in  the  government  under  which  he  lives. 
Race  outbreaks  in  the  South  are  but  the  outgrowth 
of  this  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  half-enlightened 
whites,  but  recently  conscious  of  their  political  power, 
against  the  black  man,  whom  they  regard  as  a  nat- 
ural rival  and  whom  they  hold  in  bitter  despite. 
Rumors  of  assaults  but  furnish  occasions  and  excuse 
for  the  exercise  of  this  pent-up  feeling.  They  are 
no  more  the  real  cause  than  the  gust  of  wind  which 


AN    APPEAL    TO   REASON  67 

topples  the  mighty  oak  after  the  ax-man  has  plied 
his  last  stroke  is  the  dynamic  cause  of  its  downfall. 
The  volcanic  eruption  breaks  through  at  the  point 
where  the  mountain  crust  is  thinnest. 

A  different  excuse  was  found  at  Wilmington,  N.  C, 
where  the  race  passion  reached  an  atrocious  climax  a 
few  years  ago. 

But  there  are  two  voices  in  the  South  to-day. 
While  one  preaches  hatred  and  strife,  another  pro- 
claims justice  and  humanity.  The  late  Chancellor 
Hill,  Bishop  Galloway,  Professor  John  Spencer  Bas- 
sett,  Joel  Chandler  Harris,  and  William  H.  Fleming, 
and  a  host  of  others  represent  the  erstwhile  silent 
South,  which  has  remained  tongue-tied  under  the 
threat  of  political  and  social  calamity.  When  the 
advocates  of  a  more  humane  and  tolerant  doctrine 
first  began  to  make  themselves  heard  they  were  re- 
garded as  incendiaries,  simpletons,  or  harmless  en- 
thusiasts. George  W.  Cable  was  banished,  Louis  H. 
Blair  ignored,  J.  L.  M.  Curry  was  listened  to  with 
courtesy,  and  Dr.  Atticus  G.  Haygood  was  made  a 
bishop. 

But  of  late  this  voice  has  become  "  something 
louder  than  before,"  and  can  no  longer  be  ignored 
as  an  important,  if  not  a  controlling  factor  in  the 
Southern  situation.  The  fundamental  question  to- 
day is  which  of  these  voices  shall  prevail — the  voice 
of  Tillman,  which  you  loudly  re-echo,  or  the  voice 
of  his  vanished  adversary,  whose  dying  whisper  was, 
"  God  bless  all  the  people,  white  and  black."  The 
one  breathing  out  hatred  and  slaughter,  the 
proclaiming  peace  and  good  will  to  all  the  peo- 
ple. 

These  two  principles  were  exemplified  in  the  At- 
lanta riot.  It  was  the  voice  of  cunning  appealing  to 
baser  passion  that  provoked  that  shameful  outbreak ; 


68  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

but  it  was  the  firm,  stern  voice  of  higher  quality 
and  tone  that  restored  peace  and  quiet.  We  are 
told  that  there  was  no  member  of  the  aristocratic 
class  in  that  miserable  rabble ;  neither  was  there  any 
member  of  the  baser  element  in  that  deliberate  and 
determined  body,  composed  of  the  best  representa- 
tives of  both  races,  which  brought  order  out  of 
chaos.  If  there  is  any  indication  that  Providence, 
in  this  instance,  has  overruled  the  wrath  of  man  for 
good,  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  working  understand- 
ing reached  by  these  two  races  on  the  common  plat- 
form of  mutual  welfare.  For  they  must  live  and 
work  and  thrive  and  suffer  together  for  all  time, 
with  which  you  and  I  are  concerned,  despite  your 
eloquent  and  fiery  demand  for  racial  separation. 

In  your  address  before  the  University  of  Chicago, 
several  years  ago,  you  not  only  justified,  but  ex- 
tolled, the  lynching  of  human  beings.  The  punish- 
ment of  Negroes  for  crimes  committed  against  white 
persons  furnishes  the  acutest  phase  of  the  race  prob- 
lem to-day.  Lynching  is  apt  to  follow  any  serious 
offense  against  the  person  of  a  male  member  of  the 
ruling  race,  and  is  sure  to  be  inflicted  where  the  com- 
plainant is  of  the  other  sex.  The  charge  of  rape  is 
but  one  of  the  excuses  for  which  the  Negro  suffers 
swift  and  summary  vengeance.  There  is  a  growing 
understanding  that  the  Negro  must  be  lynched  for 
offenses  of  certain  nature  and  degree  which  is  hedged 
about  with  as  much  nicety  and  exactness  as  the 
extinct  code  duello. 

I  am  interrupted  in  the  writing  of  this  letter  to 
read  on  a  single  page  of  my  daily  paper  accounts  of 
four  lynchings  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  In 
only  one  instance  is  assault  on  woman  alleged;  and 
even  in  this  case,  there  was  no  judicial  determination 
of  guilt.     These  are  fair  samples  of  the  nature  of 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  69 

the  charges   upon  which  Judge  Lynch  passes   sen- 
tence upon  the  black  culprit  without  trial. 

"  Rape  means  rope,"  says  the  sententious  Sam 
Jones,  and  the  moral  sense  of  mankind  approves  the 
verdict.  The  only  point  of  contention  is  whether 
this  rope  should  be  set  apart  by  judicial  sanction  or 
extemporized  by  the  bloodthirsty  mob  to  appease 
ignoble  race  hatred. 

There  seems  to  be  a  deliberate  propaganda  on  the 
part  of  those  who  appeal  to  the  nether  portion  of 
the  white  South  to  place  the  colored  race  in  evil 
repute  in  order  to  justify  iniquitous  practices.  To 
make  a  race  odious  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  is  ample 
excuse  for  all  forms  of  outrages  and  cruel  treatment. 
Such  is  the  sinister  homage  that  cunning  pays  to 
conscience.  It  always  seizes  upon  the  most  sacred 
instincts  and  passionate  ideals  as  its  palliating  cloak. 
Russia  would  make  believe  that  the  Jews  offer  up 
Christian  babes  in  their  horrid  sacrificial  rites  to 
justify  the  butchery  of  a  meek  and  lowly  race.  The 
lamb  below  the  wolf  is  always  charged  with  muddy- 
ing the  stream  above  him.  Even  among  white  men  in 
the  South  the  dead  man  is  usually  the  guilty  man. 
This  propaganda  has  skillfully  and  willfully  exagger- 
ated assaults  by  colored  men  so  as  to  give  the  black 
race  an  evil  reputation.  When  all  the  facts  in  the 
case  are  calmly  and  carefully  considered,  due  weight 
being  given  to  all  the  contributing  influences,  it  will  . 
be  found  that  such  offenses  by  Negroes  are  not 
greatly  out  of  proportion  to  like  offenses  among 
white  men.  A  careful  student  of  current  happenings 
informs  me  that  he  clipped  from  the  newspapers 
fifteen  cases  of  assaults  by  white  men  in  one  day  in 
a  single  city.  Where  the  Negro  is  involved  it  is  the 
widespread  circulation  that  inflames  the  popular  v 
mind. 


70  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Assault  by  a  Negro,  actual  or  alleged,  is  displayed 
by  the  press  in  the  boldest  headlines,  whereas  like 
offenses  by  white  men  are  compressed  within  a  half 
inch  space,  as  part  of  the  ordinary  happenings  of 
the  day.  Whenever  a  Negro  is  accused  of  this  crime 
the  Associated  Press  sends  the  announcement  all 
over  the  land.  The  morning  papers  proclaim  it  in 
bold  headlines,  only  to  be  outdone  by  their  more  reck- 
less evening  contemporaries.  The  weekly  journals 
rehash  the  same  with  gruesome  particularities,  until 
the  whole  nation  becomes  inflamed  against  the  race 
on  account  of  the  dastardly  deed  of  a  single  wretch. 

The  Negroes  of  Atlanta,  some  forty  thousand  in 
number,  who  had  hitherto  sustained  a  good  reputa- 
tion for  decency  and  order,  were  held  up  to  the  ab- 
horrence of  the  whole  civilized  world  by  reason  of 
two  or  three  suspected  criminals  of  their  blood.  This 
is  as  flagrantly  unjust  to  the  Negro  as  it  would  be  to 
base  the  reputation  of  the  population  of  London 
upon  the  deeds  of  Jack  the  Ripper,  or  the  good  name 
of  Englishmen  upon  the  disclosures  of  William  T. 
Stead.  If  cases  of  lightning  stroke  were  proclaimed 
with  such  horrifying  publicity  as  heinous  crimes  com- 
mitted by  Negroes,  we  should  all  live  in  momentary 
dread  of  the  terror  of  the  sky. 

Your  chief  complaint  is  not  due  so  much  to  the 
heinousness  of  the  assault  itself  as  to  the  fact  that 
the  perpetrators  belong  to  one  race  and  the  victims 
to  another.  The  abhorrence  of  the  deed  is  intensi- 
fied by  the  color  and  degree  of  the  evil-doer.  Shake- 
speare has  painted  Caliban  and  Miranda,  the  one 
hideous  and  depraved,  the  other  fair  and  pure  as 
the  rose  of  the  morning,  to  illustrate  how  difference 
in  degree  and  rank  of  the  offender  and  the  victim 
adds  grievousness  to  the  foulest  offense.  A  nameless 
assassin,   sprung   from   the  scum   of  the  earth   and 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  71 

nurtured  in  a  murderous  cult,  extending  his  cow- 
ardly hand  in  simulated  greetings,  struck  down  Wil- 
liam McKinley,  the  most  amiable  and  beloved  of  our 
rulers.  This  wretch  in  human  form,  whose  unpro- 
nounceable name  shall  be  anathema  for  evermore, 
aimed  this  deadly  blow  at  the  idol  of  the  American 
people,  and  rolled  a  heavy  stone  on  the  nation's  heart. 
Was  ever  deed  more  dastardly  or  better  calculated  to 
excite  summary  vengeance?  This  was  all  but  the 
universal  impulse.  And  yet  the  anxious  solicitude  of 
our  dying  chieftain  was  that  no  harm  should  come 
to  his  assailant  not  sanctioned  by  due  process  of  law. 
Summary  vengeance  wreaked  upon  the  vilest  mis- 
creant answers  no  worthy  end.  It  neither  wipes  out 
the  crime  committed,  nor  prevents  its  repetition.  A 
bitter  and  bloody  experience  shows  too  plainly  that 
vindictive  vengeance  acts  as  a  suggestive  rather  than 
a  deterrent  to  the  evilly  disposed. 

The  prevalence  of  lynching  in  the  South  causes 
a  double  reaction  of  feeling.  In  the  first  place  it 
causes  the  whites  to  hate  the  Negro,  as  it  is  a  part 
of  human  nature  to  hate  those  whom  we  have  in- 
jured. In  the  second  place  it  causes  the  Negro  to 
hate  the  whites.  It  is  universally  conceded  that 
lynching  has  no  deterrent  effect  upon  the  class  of 
crimes  alleged  to  excite  its  vengeance.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  probably  has  the  opposite  effect.  The  crim- 
inals and  outlaws  of  the  Negro  race,  who  care  noth- 
ing for  life  or  death,  may  be  thus  hardened  into 
resolves  of  revenge,  and  lie  waiting  to  strike  the 
hated  race  where  the  blow  will  be  most  keenly  felt. 

You  ask  the  Northern  press  to  join  in  the  work 
of  blackening  the  name  of  the  race  by  giving  two 
paragraphs  to  every  alleged  assault  and  but  scant 
notice  to  lynching.  You  would  make  it  appear  that 
"  Negro,"   "  rape  "    and   "  lynch  "    are   connotative 


72  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

terms.  But  you  seem  to  forget,  or  purposely  ignore, 
the  fact  that  the  direst  vengeance  is  often  inflicted 
for  other  than  rapeful  assault.  In  Statesboro,  a 
remote  village  of  your  own  State,  two  colored  men, 
intent  on  robbery,  murdered  a  whole  family  and  set 
fire  to  the  dwelling  to  hide  their  awful  deed.  The 
accused  were  apprehended  and  sentenced  to  death 
within  two  months  after  the  horrible  performance. 
Race  passion  ran  high.  Threats  and  rumors  of 
lynching  flew  thick  and  fast.  The  bloodthirsty  mob 
vowed  summary  vengeance.  The  Governor  dis- 
patched State  troops  to  quell  the  turbulent  spirit 
and  vindicate  the  majesty  of  the  law.  But  the  mob 
had  scented  blood  and  was  not  to  be  foiled  of  its 
prey  by  an  empty  show  of  force.  It  snatched  the 
prisoners  from  the  hands  of  the  law,  mocked  the  trial 
judge,  ignored  the  sheriff,  and  overpowered  the  mi- 
litia, which,  like  tin  soldiers,  yielded  without  inflict- 
ing or  receiving  a  wound.  Cries  of  crucifixion  filled 
the  air.  The  sovereign  State  of  Georgia  lies  pros- 
trate under  the  feet  of  the  maddened  mob,  infuriated 
at  the  aroused  instinct  for  blood.  The  culprits  are 
dragged  tremblingly  through  the  streets,  their  bodies 
saturated  with  oil,  and  chained  to  a  decaying  tree 
trunk.  The  inflammable  fagots  are  piled  high,  the 
torch  is  applied  while  men,  women,  and  children  dance 
with  ghoulish  glee  at  the  death  groans  issuing  from 
the  flames.  In  another  instance  a  woman  was  burned 
alive  on  a  gruesome  funeral  pyre.  Such  fiendish 
procedure  outrages  human  nature  and  hurts  the 
heart  of  the  world.  All  of  this  you  would  palliate 
and  excuse  and  ask  the  Northern  press  to  pass  over 
with  a  scant  and  hasty  paragraph. 

I  am  disposed  to  hope  that  you  will  not  be  indif- 
ferent to  the  wrongs  and  injustice  inflicted  upon  a 
helpless,  and,  on  the  whole,  rightly  inclined  people. 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  73 

The  woes  and  miseries  of  the  Negro  race  are  made 
to  culminate  upon  the  subject  of  crime  and  its  sum- 
mary punishment.  The  black  man's  political  rights, 
civil  privileges,  educational  opportunities,  and  the 
advantage  of  sympathetic  and  helpful  contact  with 
the  white  race  will  be  conditioned  upon  the  evil  repu- 
tation foisted  upon  him  by  mob  violence,  inflicted  on 
account  of  alleged  execrable  crimes.  No  people  will 
tolerate  a  race  of  potential  rapists  in  their  midst.  If 
this  lecherous  brand  can  be  fixed  upon  the  Negro's 
forehead  it  will  be  more  loathsome  than  the  mur- 
derous mark  of  Cain.  The  race  would  be  shunned 
as  a  colony  of  moral  lepers.  No  individual  of  this 
blood,  however  upright  his  personal  life,  could  es- 
cape the  taint  of  racial  reputation. 

This  propaganda  of  evil  has  so  far  succeeded  as 
to  cool  the  ardor  of  those  who  are  disposed  to  de- 
fend the  Negro's  cause.  There  is  scarcely  a  single 
voice  in  all  this  land  that  dares,  with  undisguised 
boldness,  to  defend  the  rights  of  human  nature  for 
fear  of  the  reproach  of  encouraging  an  unworthy 
people.  There  has  been  a  sharp  change  in  public 
sentiment  during  the  last  quarter  century,  which 
marks  the  period  during  which  the  Negro's  alleged 
evil  propensities  have  been  proclaimed  to  the  world 
with  shrewd  and  unholy  design.  In  1881  Dr.  Atticus 
G.  Haygood,  a  courtly,  pious  son  of  Georgia,  wrote 
a  book  and  styled  it  "  Our  Brother  in  Black." 
Twenty  years  later  we  were  startled  at  the  title, 
"  The  Negro  a  Beast."  These  contrasted  titles 
fairly  gauge  the  drift  of  sentiment  during  that  in- 
terval. So  powerful  for  evil  has  been  the  attempt 
to  convince  the  world  that  the  black  man  is  imbued 
with  a  low  and  evil  nature,  so  despiteful  has  become 
the  estimate  in  which  the  Negro  is  held,  that  at  the 
slightest  charge  against  him,  the  cry,  "Lynch  the 


74  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Negro ! "  leaps  spontaneously  from  the  lips  of  the 
gathering  multitude  in  the  streets  of  our  most  pop- 
ulous and  peaceful  cities.  We  are  so  accustomed  to 
the  startling  headlines  in  the  daily  press,  "  Negro 
Lynched  "  or  "  Negro  Burned  at  the  Stake,"  that 
the  whole  American  people  would  become  one  national 
nervous  wreck  were  it  not  that  frequently  repeated 
shocks  of  the  same  nature  render  the  system  insen- 
sible to  further  impressions.  There  is  danger  that 
the  national  feeling  will  become  numb  and  the  na- 
tional conscience  sear.  Clippings  from  the  columns 
of  any  leading  daily  on  this  subject  for  the  past 
three  months  would  be  sufficient  to  form  a  mammoth 
Sunday  edition,  with  a  blood-red  supplement  of 
atrocious  horrors.  The  intelligent  Negro  bears 
heavily  the  brunt  of  this  load.  The  sins  of  his  race, 
actual  and  alleged,  weigh  heavily  upon  him.  Almost 
every  reflecting  Negro  of  my  acquaintance  is  grow- 
ing prematurely  gray. 

The  Negro  complains  because  of  the  insistent 
statement  that  lynching  is  resorted  to  only  as  pun- 
ishment for  rape,  when  the  plain  facts  of  record 
show  that  not  more  than  one  case  in  four  can  plead 
the  allegement  of  rape  in  extenuation.  The  causes 
run  the  whole  gamut  of  offenses,  from  the  most  seri- 
ous crimes  to  the  most  trifling  misdemeanors.  In- 
deed, lynching  is  coming  to  be  looked  upon  as  the 
proper  mode  of  punishment  for  any  offense  which 
the  Negro  commits  against  a  white  person ;  and  yet 
every  time  a  Negro  is  lynched  or  burned  at  the  stake 
the  race  is  held  up  to  the  world  as  responsible  for 
the  execrable  crimes. 

Mr.  George  P.  Upton,  associate  editor  of  the 
Chicago  Tribune,  has  kept  records  of  lynchings  in 
the  United  States,  in  itemized  form,  since  1885.  The 
accuracy  of  his   figures   has  never  been  questioned. 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  75 

The  following  facts  are  taken  from  an  article  con- 
tributed by  him  to  the  Independent,  September  29, 
1904: 

"  Between  1885  and  1904  there  were  2875  lynch- 
ings  in  the  United  States.  Of  these,  2499  were 
attributed  to  the  South,  302  to  the  West,  63  to  the 
Pacific  Slope,  and  11  to  the  East.  The  alleged  causes 
were  as  follows : 

For    alleged    and    attempted    criminal    assault.. 564 

For    complicity   and    for   the    double    charge    of   assault 

and    murder 138 

For    murder     1277 

For    theft,    burglary    and    robbery 326 

For    arson     106 

For    race    prej  udice     94 

For    unknown    reason     134 

For    simple    assault    18 

For    insulting    whites     18 

For    making    threats     16 

The  remaining  cases  were  inflicted  for  such  of- 
fenses as  "  slander,  miscegenation,  informing,  drunk- 
enness, fraud,  voodooism,  violation  of  contract,  re- 
sisting arrest,  elopement,  train-wrecking,  poisoning 
stock,  refusing  to  give  evidence,  political  animosity, 
disobedience  of  quarantine  regulations,  passing 
counterfeit  money,  introducing  smallpox,  concealing 
criminals,  cutting  levees,  kidnapping,  gambling  riots, 
testifying  against  whites,  seduction,  incest,  and  forc- 
ing a  child  to  steal."  The  causes  include  well-nigh 
every  offense  in  the  catalogue  of  human  transgres- 
sion. 

In  view  of  these  undisputed  facts,  can  you,  with 
clear  conscience,  continue  to  mislead  the  world  into 
the  belief  that  the  Negro  is  lynched  only  for  "  the 
usual  crime  "  ?  If  words  are  used  in  their  usual  sense, 
the  "  usual  crime  "  for  which  Negroes  are  lynched 
would  be  other  than  assault  on  women. 

Again,  the  Negro  suffers  injustice  in  that  the  mild- 


76  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

est  protest  against  such  red-handed  procedure  is  con- 
strued as  sympathy  for  criminals  and  condonation  of 
crime  of  the  most  abominable  nature.  The  Negro 
race  is  the  gainer  by  every  miscreant  that  meets  his 
merited  doom  at  the  end  of  a  rope.  Nor  is  it  par- 
ticularly concerned  as  to  the  manner  of  his  death, 
nor  "  the  deep  damnation  of  his  taking  off."  If 
swift,  summary  vengeance  followed  as  personal  pun- 
ishment for  personal  transgression,  no  Negro,  as 
such,  would  open  his  lips,  albeit  he  might  plead  for 
law  and  order  on  the  broad  basis  of  humanity.  But 
the  vengeance  of  the  mob  is  not  confined  to  the  guilty, 
if  indeed  it  is  aimed  at  him.  Its  leading  purpose,  as 
you  advise,  is  to  strike  terror  in  the  whole  Negro  pop- 
ulation. To  this  end  there  is  little  pains  to  identify 
the  victim  or  to  establish  his  guilt.  The  innocent  and 
the  guilty  are  alike  objects  of  its  vengeance.  Gov- 
ernor Candler  of  Georgia  stated  in  a  public  utterance 
some  years  ago :  "  I  can  say  of  a  verity  that  I  have, 
within  the  last  month,  saved  the  lives  of  half  a  dozen 
innocent  Negroes,  who  were  pursued  by  the  mob,  and 
brought  them  to  trial  in  a  court  of  law  in  which  they 
were  acquitted."  The  mob  has  neither  the  temper 
nor  the  disposition  carefully  to  determine  the  guilt 
of  the  accused.  We  must  not  place  too  much  reli- 
ance upon  the  alleged  identification  of  the  culprit  by 
the  delirious  victim,  nor  upon  alleged  confession  of 
guilt  wrung  from  the  accused  by  indescribable  tor- 
ture. Although  the  newspapers  glibly  tell  us  of  the 
confession,  the  courts  have  never  yet  been  able  to 
determine  the  identity  of  the  confessor.  In  many 
cases  it  is  known  that  innocent  men  have  suffered 
death  and  torture  at  the  hands  of  the  mob.  Of  the 
two  thousand  Negro  victims  of  violence,  who  can  tell 
how  many  guiltless  souls  have  been  hurled  into  eter- 
nity with  the  protestation  of  innocence  on  their  lips  ? 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  77 

But  the  innocent  equally  with  the  guilty  serve  to 
impair  the  Negro's  good  name.  Several  years  ago 
the  whole  Italian  nation  was  aroused  at  the  lynching 
of  a  dozen  of  its  subjects  in  Louisiana.  It  was  not 
because  of  sympathy  for  or  regret  at  the  loss  of  a 
few  worthless  individuals,  but  because  such  high- 
handed procedure  served  to  insult,  humiliate,  and 
degrade  the  entire  race  and  nation  to  which  the  un- 
fortunate victims  belonged.  It  is  for  such  reasons 
that  the  Negro  pleads  for  the  supremacy  of  law,  and 
not  because  he  has  any  sympathy  for  a  crime  that 
always  excites  the  wildest  passions  of  human  nature. 
It  is  not  denied  that  depraved  and  vicious  Negroes, 
as  of  other  races,  do  at  times  commit  these  heinous 
crimes ;  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  sexual  infirmity  is 
an  especial  failing  of  the  colored  race.  It  is  well 
known  that  rapeful  assault  has  always  been,  and  is 
still,  a  more  or  less  common  practice  among  all  races 
and  peoples.  Students  of  the  Bible  know  full  well 
that  this  practice  was  not  unknown  among  the  He- 
brews. Jupiter,  father  of  gods  and  men,  who  em- 
bodied the  vices  as  well  as  the  virtues  of  the  Greek 
race,  to  his  numerous  epithets  might  properly  have 
had  added  the  cognomen  "  ravisher  of  women."  The 
practice  is  quite  common  among  all  European  races 
to-day.  England  and  Wales,  in  1877,  furnished  878 
prisoners  convicted  on  this  charge.  From  1871  to 
1880  there  were  in  the  same  country  758  persons 
convicted  for  assaults  upon  girls  under  thirteen  years 
of  age.  The  eleventh  census  returns  814  white  pris- 
oners in  the  United  States  convicted  on  the  charge 
of  rape.  And  yet  to  listen  to  your  scathing  denun- 
ciations of  the  black  man  one  would  be  led  to  believe 
that  a  crime  as  old  as  human  frailty  was  invented  by 
the  American  Negro  as  a  new  mode  of  human 
atrocity. 


78  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

We  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  where  a  col- 
ored man  and  white  woman  are  concerned,  rape  has 
a  larger  definition  than  is  set  down  in  the  diction- 
aries. Relations  are  often  punished  under  this  head 
which,  if  sustained  among  members  of  the  same  race, 
would  receive  a  less  abominable,  though  perhaps  an 
equally   unhallowed  name. 

There  are  certain  delicate  phases  of  question  whose 
discussion  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  alone  jus- 
tifies. The  womanhood  of  the  Negro  race  has  been 
the  immemorial  victim  of  the  white  man's  lascivious- 
ness  and  lust.  The  black  woman  has  yielded  to 
higher  authority  and  superior  guile.  A  lower  will 
is  overborne  by  a  higher  as  easily  as  a  weaker  by  a 
stronger  physical  force.  While  breathing  out 
slaughter  against  the  Negro  man,  does  the  white 
lord  and  master  ever  stop  to  reflect  upon  the  un- 
numbered assaults  which  he  for  centuries  has  made 
upon  black  and  bleached  womanhood?  The  Negro 
domestic  who  must  fight  daily  to  preserve  her  integ- 
rity from  the  subtle  guile  or  forceful  compulsion  of 
her  white  employer,  and  who  yields  only  when  her 
strength  of  body  or  will  is  not  sufficient  to  hold  out 
longer,  is  a  victim  who  commands  the  deepest  sym- 
pathy. While  the  white  man  is  beholding  the  mote  in 
his  black  brother's  eye,  he  should  not  fail  to  con- 
sider the  beam  within  his  own.  This  point  cannot 
be  better  enforced  than  by  the  lines  of  the  poet 
Burns : 

"  You  see  your  state  wi'  their's  compared, 

And   shudder   at  the  niffer; 
But    cast    a    moment's    fair    regard, 

What    makes    the    mighty    differ: 
Discount  what    scant   occasion   gave, 

That   purity  ye   pride    in, 
And    (what's    oft   mair   than   a'    the   lave), 

Your    better    art    o'    hidin'." 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  79 

In  the  refutation  of  the  charge  brought  against 
him  the  Negro  is  entitled  to  every  argument  that  can 
be  brought  forward  in  his  behalf. 

1.  In  Africa,  the  fatherland,  or  rather  the  mother- 
land, of  this  race,  rape  is  almost  unknown,  and  when 
it  does  occur,  is  visited  with  the  severest  punishment. 

2.  We  have  heard  nothing  of  this  abnormal  ten- 
dency during  the  days  of  slavery.  When  the  care 
and  safety  of  white  women  of  the  South  were  en- 
trusted to  the  keeping  of  slaves  they  returned  in- 
violate all  that  had  been  entrusted  to  them. 

3.  Some  are  so  careless  with  facts  and  reason  as 
to  attribute  this  alleged  tendency  to  the  last  two 
amendments  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  They  seem 
to  forget  that  during  the  days  of  reconstruction, 
when  these  amendments  were  in  force,  such  charges 
were  never  preferred.  It  cannot  be  then,  as  you  af- 
firm, due  to  the  outgrowth  of  the  spirit  of  equality 
on  the  part  of  the  Negro. 

4.  Of  the  hundreds  of  lady  missionaries  from  the 
North  who  have  and  do  still  entrust  their  safety  to 
the  colored  race,  not  a  single  case  of  violation,  up 
to  this  last  day  of  Christian  grace,  has  been  reported 
to  their  friends  in  the  North. 

5.  In  South  America  and  the  West  Indian  Archi- 
pelago, where  the  Negroes  live  in  largest  numbers, 
"  rape  and  rope  "  has  never  become  a  subject  for 
popular  agitation. 

What  evil  spirit  then  has  come  upon  the  present 
day  Afro-American  that  a  people  who,  from  the  days 
of  Homer  until  this  generation,  have  borne  the 
epithet  of  "  blameless  Ethiopians,"  should  now  be 
accused  as  the  scourge  of  mankind?  Why  has  this 
demoniacal  possession  held  itself  in  restraint  until 
now,  and  why  does  it  not  manifest  itself  in  peoples  of 
like  blood  in  different  parts  of  the  globe? 


80  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

The  self-respecting  Negro  is  upbraided  because  he 
does  not  exercise  a  restraining  influence  over  the 
vicious  and  criminal  members  of  his  own  race.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  has  little  or  no  contact  with  or 
control  over  them.  He  is  sought  to  be  made  his 
brother's  keeper  with  no  coercive  or  corrective  in- 
fluence over  his  brother's  conduct.  Responsibility 
implies  authority.  The  Negro  is  rigorously  excluded 
from  governmental  power  and  divested  of  every 
semblance  of  official  prerogative.  The  depraved  and 
criminal  Negroes,  as  of  other  races,  do  not  go  to 
school,  they  belong  to  no  church  or  fraternal  order, 
they  are  no  more  influenced  by  moral  agencies  than 
if  they  were  located  on  another  continent.  All  at- 
tempts to  interfere  on  the  part  of  his  self-respecting 
brother  would  lead  to  the  ancient  response,  "  Who 
made  thee  a  prince  and  a  judge  over  us?"  Those 
who  occupy  places  of  governmental  authority  and 
power  are  responsible  to  the  world  for  the  punish- 
ment of  the  guilty  and  protection  of  the  innocent. 
Moral  suasion  has  little  or  no  influence  with  hardened 
criminals — they  are  answerable  to  the  law  alone. 
The  white  race,  clothed  with  full  authority  and 
power,  is  confessedly  unable  to  restrain  its  own  vicious 
classes.  It  is  an  extravagant  compliment  to  the 
Negro  to  expect  him  to  do  by  moral  suasion  alone 
that  which  the  white  man  cannot  accomplish  with 
moral  suasion  backed  by  public  power. 

The  stockades  and  chain-gangs  maintained  by  the 
State  of  Georgia  are  training  schools  of  crime. 
Those  who  enter  must  leave  all  hope  behind.  They 
are  hardened  into  hatred  of  society.  Have  you 
ever  stopped  to  think  that  the  State  may  be  re- 
sponsible for  the  criminal  class  which  you  so  loudly 
reprobate  ? 

The  Negroes  are  charged  with  shielding  criminals 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  81 

of  their  own  race.  In  so  far  as  this  charge  may  have 
the  semblance  of  truth,  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
black  culprit,  guilty  or  innocent,  is  likely  to  meet 
with  mob  violence,  and  to  assist  in  the  apprehension 
of  the  accused  is  equivalent  to  joining  in  a  man-hunt 
for  blood.  Whenever  a  Negro  is  pursued  by  a  posse, 
charged  with  a  serious  offense  against  a  white  person, 
the  newspaper  headlines  usually  foreshadow  his  doom 
with  unerring  accuracy :  "  Will  be  lynched  if  caught." 
The  conscientious  citizen  of  the  North  a  generation 
ago  refused  to  aid  the  man-hunter  in  quest  of  run- 
aways from  a  cruel  bondage,  although  he  was  clothed 
with  full  authority  by  an  iniquitous  law.  Every  good 
citizen  will  uphold  and  defend  the  authority  and  dig- 
nity of  the  law,  but  he  will  not  aid  the  mob  in  quest 
of  vengeance  upon  a  man  of  unproved  guilt.  You  did 
not  restrain  that  Atlanta  mob  of  murderers,  and  yet 
you  censured  the  Negroes  of  that  city  for  not  sup- 
pressing a  few  suspected  criminals,  whom  even  the 
microscopic  eye  of  the  law  could  not  detect.  The 
Negro  feels  that  he  cannot  expect  justice  from 
Southern  courts  where  white  and  black  are  in- 
volved. In  his  mind  accusation  is  equivalent  to  con- 
demnation. For  this  suspicion  the  jury  rather  than 
the  judge  is  responsible.  The  very  spirit  in  which, 
he  feels,  the  law  is  administered  makes  it  difficult  for 
the  colored  citizen  to  exercise  cheerful  co-operation 
and  acquiescence. 

I  think  I  ought  to  say  that  after  diligent  inquiry 
from  colored  men  in  all  parts  of  the  South,  I  am 
advised  that  Southern  courts  are  usually  fair  and 
often  generous  to  the  Negro  in  cases  which  do  not 
involve  race  feeling,  but  where  this  issue  arises  the 
outcome,  in  the  Negro's  mind,  is  a  foregone  conclu- 
sion. Herein  lies  the  greatest  condemnation  of  exist- 
ing rule.     It  fails  to  make  the  humble  citizen  feel 


82  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

safe   and  secure  under  the   protecting  a^gis   of  the 
law. 

In  the  British  Indies,  where  there  is  a  race  situa- 
tion more  complicated  than  in  America,  we  are  told 
that  the  behavior  toward  the  whites  is  exemplary,  and 
the  type  of  crimes  so  bitterly  deplored  in  this  country 
is  unknown.  This  desirable  state  of  things  is  due, 
in  my  judgment,  to  the  fact  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment administers  justice  with  absolute  equality  as 
between  man  and  man,  without  regard  to  race.  Where 
the  Negro  sees  the  white  man  made  amenable  to  the 
requirements  of  the  law  he  is  apt  to  regard  it  with 
reverence  and  respect.  On  the  contrary,  in  the  South 
a  white  man  is  rarely  punished  for  offense  against 
his  black  brother.  Of  the  thousands  of  cases  of  mur- 
der of  blacks  by  whites  since  emancipation  there  has 
been  scarcely  a  legal  execution,  and  comparatively 
few  prison  sentences.  The  offender  usually  escapes 
with  the  stereotyped  verdict,  "  Justifiable  homicide," 
or  at  best  with  a  nominal  fine.  If  the  relations  were 
reversed,  whatever  the  provocative  circumstances,  the 
Negro  would  almost  certainly  be  sentenced  to  death 
or  to  life  imprisonment,  if  indeed  the  mob  allowed 
the  case  to  reach  a  judicial  hearing.  To  say  that 
these  flagrant  discrepancies  have  not  their  influence 
upon  the  black  man's  attitude  toward  the  law,  would 
be  to  deny  that  he  is  controlled  by  ordinary  human 
motives.  The  best  example  that  the  South  can  set 
for  the  Negro  would  be  punishment  of  white  men  for 
their  crimes  according  to  the  requirement  of  the  law. 
Mean  white  men  will  continue  to  mistreat  Negroes 
just  so  long  as  they  can  do  so  with  impunity  by  hid- 
ing themselves  behind  the  cloak  of  racial  arrogance. 
Mobs  will  continue  to  wreak  their  wrath  on  Negro 
culprits,  innocent  or  guilty,  until  they  are  deterred 
by  effective  bayonets  and  bullets  at  the  hands  of  a 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  83 

firm  and  unrelenting  law.  When  the  Negro  sees  that 
the  white  man  can  override  the  law  with  impunity  it 
begets  in  him  the  spirit  of  desperation,  vindictiveness 
and  reprisal.  This  is  the  elemental  law  of  human 
passion.  It  is  firmly  lodged  in  the  breast  of  the  ig- 
norant and  untutored.  The  intelligent  Negro  will  be 
restrained  by  reason  and  prudence,  but  the  depraved 
and  the  base  will  follow  his  wild,  untutored  human 
impulse.  Good  policy  requires  the  placing  of  the 
stress  of  emphasis  upon  the  white  offender  as  upon 
the  black  wrongdoer.  Judgment  in  this  instance 
should  begin  at  the  house  of  God.  The  Negro  will 
follow  the  pace  set  by  the  white  man.  Reverence  and 
respect  for  law  and  order  on  his  part  will  beget  like 
sentiment  in  his  black  brother.  Equality  before  the 
law  is  the  South's  only  salvation. 

The  Negro  is  by  no  means  the  only  sufferer  from 
these  outrageous  practices — the  white  people  are  also 
victims  of  their  own  wrath.  According  to  the  law  of 
retribution,  the  perpetrators  of  wrong  must  suffer 
equally  with  the  victims  of  it.  The  spirit  of  violence 
and  lawlessness  permeates  the  atmosphere  and  is 
breathed  in  every  breath  of  air.  It  has  been  claimed 
that  the  Spanish  incurred  their  blood-thirsty  disposi- 
tion by  their  fierce  struggle  in  subduing  the  Moors. 
The  acquired  disposition  passed  into  heredity  and  be- 
came a  permanent  trait  of  the  race. 

Is  the  white  South  not  in  danger  of  such  a  fate? 
Some  time  ago  Rev.  Sam  Jones,  with  a  self-gratula- 
tory  spirit,  claimed  that  not  one  Southerner  in  ten 
had  ever  participated  in  a  lynching.  Supposing  that 
these  figures  approximate  the  truth.  It  will  be  seen 
that  more  persons  have  been  engaged  in  lynching 
Negroes  than  there  were  soldiers  in  the  Confederate 
army.  Every  such  person  has  blood  on  his  con- 
science   which    cannot   be    washed    away    by    high- 


84  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

sounding     declamation      about     Anglo-Saxon      su- 
premacy. 

"  Nor   florid  prose,   honeyed  lies  of  rhyme 
Can   blazon  evil   deeds   or   consecrate   a  crime." 

The  evil  has  reached  such  alarming  proportions  as 
to  become  of  national  importance.  While  lynching 
is  confined  mainly  to  the  South,  it  is  not  wholly  so. 
Negroes  have  been  lynched  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Colorado,  and  even  in  bleeding  Kansas,  the  State  of 
brave  old  John  Brown,  whose  soul  must  for  once  have 
halted  in  its  onward  march  at  such  dreadful  news. 
The  "  ape  and  tiger  "  slumber  all  too  lightly  beneath 
the  thin  veil  of  civilization,  whose  chief  concern  is  to 
keep  them  subdued  under  the  beneficent  sway  of  rea- 
son and  law.  If  they  are  allowed  to  break  forth  and 
rave  at  will  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  will  not  this  sav- 
age triumph  embolden  like  spirit  throughout  the 
land?  Does  not  the  unrestrained  fury  of  a  wild  ani- 
mal that  escapes  from  a  menagerie  encourage  his  en- 
caged fellows  to  break  forth,  too,  and  vent  their  pent- 
up  rage?  There  is  no  contagion  so  swift  and  sure  of 
diffusion  as  the  baser  passion  of  man.  The  nation 
puts  forth  a  strenuous  endeavor  to  stamp  out  cholera 
or  yellow  fever,  however  remote  the  plague  spot  where 
it  first  breaks  forth.  The  baleful  effect  of  the  burn- 
ing and  lynching  of  human  beings  cannot  be  limited 
to  any  locality,  State  or  section,  but  is  as  wide- 
spread as  the  nation  whose  dormant  evil  passion  it 
tends  to  encourage,  and  whose  good  name  it  serves  to 
tarnish.  The  question  is  truly  a  national  one,  and  as 
such  should  appeal  to  every  man,  woman  and  child 
who  loves  his  country,  and  is  pledged  to  uphold  its 
good  name  and  high  ideals. 

The  infectious  germ  has  inoculated  almost  every 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON 


85 


State  in  the  Union.     The  list  for  States  and  Terri- 
tories, from  1885  to  1904,  is  as  follows: 


Mississippi    298 

Texas     272 

Louisiana    261 

Georgia   253 

Alabama   232 

Arkansas    207 

Tennessee    191 

Kentucky    148 

Florida    128 

South  Carolina   100 

Virginia    84 

Missouri    79 

North   Carolina    58 

Indian  Territory    54 

West   Virginia    43 

Oklahoma    38 

Maryland    20 

Arizona     18 

New  Mexico  15 

Total    for    South    ....2,499 


Indiana    38 

Kansas    38 

California     33 

Nebraska    33 

Michigan     6 

North    Dakota     5 

Nevada    5 

Minnesota     4 

Wisconsin     4 

Wyoming    33 

Colorado    31 

Montana    29 

Idaho     21 

Illinois   19 

Washington    16 

Ohio  13 

Iowa     12 

South  Dakota   11 

Oregon    10 

Alaska    4 

Maine     . 3 

Pennsylvania    3 

New  York   2 

New  Jersey   1 

Connecticut    1 

Delaware    1 

Massachusetts    0 

New    Hampshire    0 

Vermont     0 

Rhode   Island    0 

Utah    0 


Total    for    North 


,376 


Total  for  Nation 2,875 

You  proclaim  the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty 
and  reprobate  Federal  interference.  But  every  man 
lynched  or  burned  in  the  South  furnishes  the  nation 


86  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

an  invitation  to  step  in  and  vindicate  the  national 
honor. 

What  a  blot  upon  our  civilization  these  figures  dis- 
close to  the  foreigner  who  may  still  be  skeptical  as  to 
the  boasts  of  our  free  institutions !  What  will  Rus- 
sia and  Turkey  and  Cuba  say?  How  long  will  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt,  bent  on  setting  the  world  to  rights, 
keep  his  hands  off? 

A  large  majority  of  these  victims  are  of  the  colored 
race,  but  a  goodly  proportion  of  them  are  white  men. 
The  evil  practice  cannot  be  limited  to  any  race  or 
section.  A  distinguished  citizen  of  Georgia,  during 
the  heated  anti-slavery  discussion,  boasted  that  he 
would  yet  call  the  roll  of  his  slaves  under  the  shadow 
of  Bunker  Hill  Monument.  His  boasted  prediction 
would  doubtless  have  been  fulfilled  had  not  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  been  destroyed  altogether.  Unless  the 
American  people  stamp  out  lynching  its  baleful  in- 
fluence will  become  as  widespread  as  the  national 
domain.  Either  the  law  must  destroy  lynching  or 
lynching  will  destroy  the  law,  involving  the  whole 
nation  in  anarchy  and  red  ruin. 

You  appeal  to  the  North  to  help  separate  the 
races.  In  this  you  are  speaking  in  an  unknown 
tongue.  The  absurdity  of  the  suggestion  places  it 
beyond  the  sphere  of  practical  discussion.  I  may 
agree  with  you  that  if  the  Negroes  were  removed 
from  the  South,  whether  sent  to  Africa  or  to  some 
hotter  place,  there  would  be  no  Negro  problem  left, 
as  such ;  but  I  am  by  no  means  certain  that  an  equally 
serious  human  problem  would  not  spring  up  in  its 
place.  If  you  should  advocate  transporting  ten  mil- 
lion Negroes  to  the  moon  your  language  would  be 
equally  intelligible.  Even  if  the  races  were  separated 
by  interstellar  space,  such  separation  would  last  only 
until   some   enterprising  white   man   contrived  some 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  87 

means  of  communication.  Three  hundred  years  ago 
the  races  were  absolutely  separated.  The  Negro 
basked  in  the  sunshine  of  savage  bliss, and  was  happy, 
but  the  white  man  sought  him  amid  his  "  sunny  clime 
and  palmy  wine  "  and  dragged  him  to  the  western 
world.  Since  then  he  has  become  an  inseparable 
part  of  the  two  continents,  and  of  the  adjacent 
archipelagos.  There  are  more  Negroes  in  the  western 
world  than  members  of  any  other  race.  He  is  rooted 
and  grounded  in  the  soil ;  he  is  here  to  stay ;  he  is  in 
the  South  to  stay ;  we  need  a  brand  of  statesmanship 
which  will  adjust  itself  to  this  great  determining  fact. 

I  beg  to  suggest  that  in  dealing  with  the  Southern 
situation  you  look  upon  the  task  as  a  race  problem, 
rather  than  as  a  human  problem.  The  human  aspect 
is  ignored  and  the  racial  feature  over  emphasized. 
We  have  before  us  a  dual  problem  of  the  perfecti- 
bility of  the  people,  and  of  racial  peace  and  harmony. 

The  South  is  freighted  with  an  awful  load  of  ig- 
norance and  poverty,  and  resultant  degradation. 
Much  of  this  attaches  to  the  white  race,  but  more  to 
the  Negro.  There  are  no  nostrums  or  miracles  that 
will  roll  away  this  reproach.  It  requires  the  united 
effort  of  all  the  nation  to  enlighten,  upbuild  and  ad- 
just these  neglected  people.  A  wise  and  far-seeing 
statesmanship  would  not  seek  to  isolate  and  perpetu- 
ate these  incapacities  in  one  race,  but  would  banish 
them  entirely.  Unless  ignorance  and  poverty  are  de- 
stroyed, they  will  rise  up  ever  and  anon  to  perplex 
and  to  trouble.  Ignorance  and  vice  are  not  racial 
attributes ;  knowledge  and  virtue  are  not  racial  en- 
dowments ;  they  are  the  outcome  of  condition.  Crime 
has  no  color ;  the  criminal  no  race ;  he  is  the  common 
enemy  of  society.  He  should  be  isolated  and  dealt 
with  according  to  the  desert  of  his  evil  deed.  It  is 
folly  to  punish  a  race  for  the  wrong  doings  of  an 


88  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

individual.  The  enlightened  elements  of  both  races 
should  make  common  cause  with  knowledge  against 
ignorance,  with  virtue  against  vice,  and  with  law 
against  the  lawless. 

I  must  not  close  this  letter  without  expressing  the 
firm  conviction  that  Negroes  of  light  and  leading 
have  grave  and  serious  responsibility.  Their  race  is 
the  victim  in  every  conflict.  While  they  cannot  re- 
strain the  hardened  criminal  without  governmental 
authority,  yet  they  are  in  duty  bound  to  put  forth 
strenuous  efforts  to  reach  and  to  influence  for  good 
the  weak,  helpless  and  neglected  elements  of  their  own 
race,  and  to  keep  them  from  falling  into  evil  ways. 
There  is  a  subtle  sympathy  of  race  which  renders 
individuals  more  easily  amenable  to  the  moral  control 
of  those  of  their  own  blood.  The  Negro  school 
teacher  and  minister  of  the  gospel  stand  in  the  high 
place  of  moral  authority.  They  should  utilize  all  the 
power  which  they  are  permitted  to  wield,  and  by  ex- 
ample, precept  and  persuasion  sustain  their  weaker 
brethren  in  all  right  directions.  They  must  bridge 
over  the  widening  chasm  between  the  educated  and 
the  more  unfortunate  by  a  practical  sympathy  and 
a  more  vital  and  brotherly  touch.  In  this  great  work 
of  human  development  we  ask  and  should  receive  the 
hearty  good  will  and  co-operation  of  all  those  who 
believe  in  the  perfectibility  of  man.  The  Negro  is 
impressionable  and  responsive  to  kind  treatment.  If 
given  the  necessary  encouragement  he  will  become 
a  safe,  conservative  factor,  and  not  the  economic  or 
moral  menace  which  you  so  vociferously  proclaim  him 
to  be.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  ruthlessly  override 
all  human  and  divine  order  at  the  behest  of  the  nar- 
row racial  arrogance.  All  far-seeing  and  conserva- 
tive Americans  believe  that  in  the  final  outcome  peace 
and  good  will,  friendship  and  amity  will  prevail,  and 


AN    APPEAL    TO    REASON  89 

that  "  Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah,  and  Judah 
shall  not  vex  Ephraim." 

Mr.  Harry  Stillman  Edwards,  your  distinguished 
fellow  Georgian,  in  a  recent  article  contributed  to  the 
Century  Magazine,  expresses  the  hopeful  belief  that 
the  two  races  can  live  together  in  righteous  peace. 
These  are  his  words :  "  Neither  can  settle  the  ques- 
tions involved  in  their  lives,  but  both  may,  and  de- 
spite political  riders,  I  believe  both  will.  I  must 
either  believe  this  or  prepare  my  descendants  for 
anarchy." 

Compared  with  your  doctrine  of  dread  and  terror, 
subversive  of  established  order  and  public  peace,  few 
patriotic  Americans  will  fail  to  feel  that  Mr.  Ed- 
wards has  chosen  the  better  part. 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART    IN    THE    NEGRO 
PROBLEM 

The  presence  of  the  African  element  in  the  United 
States  gives  rise  to  a  tripartite  problem.  The  white 
man  of  the  North,  the  white  man  of  the  South,  and 
the  Negro  are  the  parties  in  interest.  The  only  pos- 
sible satisfactory  solution  of  this  problem  must  de- 
pend upon  the  united  wisdom  and  conciliatory  spirit 
of  this  triple  alliance,  and  must  be  just  and  honorable 
to  all. 

For  more  than  a  generation  the  North  alone  has 
directed  and  controlled  our  national  policies,  against 
the  incessant  antagonism  of  the  South.  This  antag- 
onism has  been  most  sharply  accentuated  over  meas- 
ures intended  to  promote  the  black  man's  welfare. 
Northern  philanthropy  and  statesmanship  have  per- 
sisted in  busying  themselves  with  this  problem,  despite 
the  resentful  hue  and  cry  against  meddlesome  inter- 
ference. On  the  other  hand,  the  South  has  regarded 
the  Negro  question  very  much  as  a  distinguished  poli- 
tician once  characterized  the  tariff — as  a  local  issue. 
It  has  stubbornly  and  sullenly  insisted  that  it  alone 
possessed  the  requisite  knowledge  and  experience  to 
deal  with  its  own  problems,  without  the  gratuitous 
assistance  of  outside  busybodies.  Nevertheless,  the 
South  has  not  yet  put  forth  any  positive, progressive 
measure  toward  this  end,  but  has  pursued  an  un- 
broken policy  of  negation,  protest,  and  retrogression. 

The  oft-repeated  asseveration  of  the  Southern  white 
man  that  he  understands  the  Negro  better  than  his 
Northern  brother  is  not  borne  out  by  experience,  nor 

90 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  91 

does  it  manifest  itself  in  enlightened  action.  As  Mr. 
Carl  Schurz  has  so  forcibly  pointed  out,  every  essen- 
tial prediction  which  the  South  has  based  upon  its 
assumed  superior  wisdom  has  proved  to  be  erroneous 
in  the  light  of  subsequent  development.  It  declared 
that  the  black  man  would  die  out  under  freedom ;  but 
the  census  shows  that  the  four  million  slaves  of  1860 
have  given  rise  to  eight  million  freemen  in  1900.  It 
asserted  that  the  Negro  would  not  work  except  by 
physical  compulsion ;  but  the  material  progress  of 
that  section,  based  largely  upon  Negro  labor,  renders 
the  assertion  beneath  refutation.  It  once  affirmed 
that  the  Negro  was  uneducationable,  but  the  North 
showed  the  absurdity  of  the  statement  by  educating 
him.  The  reputation  of  the  prophet  is  discredited 
by  the  too  frequent  failure  of  his  predictions. 

The  Southern  white  man  bases  his  claim  to  superior 
knowledge  upon  long  association  and  intimacy  of 
contact.  Long  habituation  with  an  environment  is 
rather  apt  to  deaden  than  sharpen  the  critical  sense. 
Near-sightedness,  no  less  than  far-sightedness,  is  a 
serious  ocular  defect.  The  three  treatises  on  Ameri- 
can institutions  which  are  admitted  to  show  the  most 
insight  and  critical  acumen  were  written  by  a  French- 
man, an  Englishman,  and  a  German,  as  a  result  of 
their  temporary  sojourn  among  us. 

The  North  has  shown  superior  wisdom  on  every 
phase  of  our  national  life,  and  the  most  enlightened 
minds  of  the  South  are  now  openly  avowing  that  the 
salvation  of  that  section  depends  upon  the  adoption 
of  the  more  enlightened  Northern  spirit  and  methods. 
Northern  knowledge  has  discovered  the  industrial  pos- 
sibilities of  the  South  and  furnished  the  means  and 
directive  skill  for  exploiting  them,  has  demonstrated 
the  folly  of  suicidal  governmental  theories  once  so 
fondly  cherished  by  the  South,  and  has  led  the  way 


92  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

in  every  feature  of  intellectual,  material,  and  social 
progress.  Is  it  reasonable,  then,  to  suppose  that  om- 
niscience, so  manifestly  withheld  in  every  other  do- 
main of  knowledge,  has  been  vouchsafed  to  the  white 
man  of  the  South  on  the  race  problem  alone? 

Hitherto  little  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
Negro  as  a  factor  whose  sensibilities  should  be  re- 
garded and  whose  voice  should  be  heeded  upon  ques- 
tions which  affect  his  own  destiny.  This  race  has 
been  looked  upon  as  an  inanimate  mass  to  be  exploited 
and  controlled  according  to  the  interest  or  caprice  of 
the  white  lord  of  creation.  But  the  growing  self- 
knowledge  and  self-assertioli  on  the  part  of  the 
awakening  race  adds  a  new  element  to  the  problem 
that  can  no  longer  be  ignored.  The  wise  physician, 
however  great  he  may  deem  his  diagnostic  knowledge 
and  therapeutic  skill,  always  encourages  the  cheerful 
co-operation  of  the  patient  under  treatment.  Even 
though  the  patient  is  not  supposed  to  have  any  wis- 
dom to  contribute,  he  is  at  least  always  accorded  the 
privilege  of  saying  how  he  feels.  The  South  and  the 
North,  as  attendant  and  consulting  physicians,  are 
now  planning  a  common  line  of  action ;  but  they  will 
not  wisely  leave  out  the  intelligent  Negro,  whose  in- 
side view  might  at  least  be  supposed  to  assist  external 
wisdom. 

The  fact  that  the  colored  race  has  followed  the 
guidance  of  the  white  man  of  the  North  has  given 
rise  to  deep  and  bitter  complaint.  Ever  since  the 
Negro  has  begun  to  animadvert  upon  his  own  condi- 
tion, the  North  and  South  have  seemed  to  him  to  be 
as  wide  apart  as  the  poles  on  questions  touching  his 
welfare.  In  the  momentous  conflict  of  thought  and 
conscience  which  preceded  the  arbitrament  of  arms, 
the  North  stood  for  liberty,  the  South  for  slavery. 
At  countless  cost  of  blood  and  treasure  the  North 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  93 

broke  his  chains,  against  the  equally  strenuous  en- 
deavor of  the  South  to  rivet  them  more  tightly.  The 
North  wrote  the  last  three  amendments  in  our  Federal 
Constitution,  while  the  South  protested  with  all  the 
power  at  its  command.  Northern  statesmanship 
placed  legislation  upon  the  statute-books  recognizing 
the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  every  line  of 
which  met  with  strenuous  opposition  and  obstruction 
on  the  part  of  the  South.  Northern  philanthropists 
have  given  their  substance  and  their  service  for  the 
intellectual  and  moral  betterment  of  the  black  man, 
while  the  South,  for  the  most  part,  has  looked  on  with 
icy  indifference,  and  often  with  ill-concealed  disap- 
proval. At  the  present  day  the  North  is  rather  dis- 
posed to  uphold  the  doctrine  of  "  a  government  of 
laws  and  not  of  men,"  while  the  South  insists  on  deal- 
ing with  the  Negro  as  a  subject-class. 

The  law  of  human  passion  requites  friendship  with 
affection.  The  black  man,  perhaps,  has  not  been 
critical  of  the  motive  that  has  actuated  this  benefac- 
tion toward  him.  The  conduct  of  the  North  may  in- 
deed have  been  actuated  by  economic  motive  and  polit- 
ical policy,  as  well  as  by  an  abstract  love  of  the  prin- 
ciples involved.  But  gratitude  is  oblivious  of  motive. 
The  Emancipation  Proclamation  does  not  fail  to 
evoke  the  black  man's  grateful  emotions  because  he 
is  told  that  it  was  merely  an  incident  of  a  larger 
policy.  It  is  sufficient  for  him  to  know  that  the  slave 
has  been  transformed  into  a  freeman,  the  chattel  into 
a  citizen,  and  that  the  North  has  been  the  chief  in- 
strument in  effecting  this  marvelous  transformation. 
It  should  not  occasion  surprise  or  resentment  that  the 
black  man  has  given  his  allegiance  to  the  policies  of 
the  North  rather  than  the  South,  especially  when  we 
remember  that  the  African  is  very  largely  a  creature 
of  affection   and   is   controlled   mainly  by   emotion. 


94  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

When  the  Negro  aligns  himself,  on  public  questions, 
with  the  people  of  the  North,  he  is  accused  of  spite- 
ful antagonism  to  his  white  neighbors.  But  he  is 
merely  following  the  impulse  that  ordinarily  governs 
human  motive.  He  has  put  human  rights  before 
economic  interest,  and  righteous  public  policy  before 
the  blandishments  of  personal  kindliness  and  indi- 
vidual favor. 

It  must  be  conceded,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
Southern  white  man  frequently  displays  commendable 
personal  good-will  toward  individual  Negroes  who 
come  within  the  circle  of  his  acquaintance  or  control. 
In  general,  there  is  the  widest  margin  between  his 
avowed  public  policy  and  his  personal  demeanor.  No 
reputable  Southerner  is  half  as  bad  as  Senator  Till- 
man talks.  The  South  seizes  upon  every  act  of  preju- 
dice or  proscription  practised  against  the  Negro  in 
the  North,  and  holds  it  up  as  proof  positive  of  the 
insincerity  of  its  righteous  pretensions.  The  tu 
quoque  argument  is  never  resorted  to  except  in  palli- 
ation of  conduct  that  is  intrinsically  indefensible. 
The  universality  of  an  act  does  not  improve  its  moral 
quality. 

Surprise  has  often  been  expressed  that  the  Negro 
does  not  move  in  mass  from  the  South,  against  whose 
public  policy  he  so  bitterly  complains,  to  those  sec- 
tions where  political  and  civil  conditions  are  more 
liberal  and  generous.  The  Negro  has  an  attachment 
for  locality  that  almost  amounts  to  instinct.  He  is 
not  of  a  nomadic  nature,  and  lacks  the  restlessness 
and  daring  spirit  of  the  pioneer.  The  climatic  con- 
ditions of  the  North  are  not  congenial  to  his  tropical 
nature,  and  the  strenuous  social  and  economic  regime 
does  not  accord  with  his  industrial  experience  and 
aptitude.  Six  millions  of  white  people  from  the 
South,  with  their  wonted  industrial  habits  and  eco- 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  95 

nomic  notions,  would  find  themselves  as  much  dis- 
qualified for  Northern  competition  as  their  less 
favored  brothers  in  black.  The  Negro  also  confronts 
industrial  intolerance  in  the  North  which  shuts  him 
out  from  the  higher  forms  of  endeavor. 

Between  the  relative  advantages  and  discourage- 
ments of  each  section  he  stands  curiously  bewildered. 
The  bulk  of  the  race  is  destined  to  remain  where  it 
was  most  thickly  planted  by  the  institution  of  slavery. 
Notwithstanding  a  continuous  stream  of  immigration 
toward  the  North  and  West  for  the  past  forty  years, 
the  mass  center  of  Negro  population  is  moving 
steadily  toward  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  Negro  and 
the  Southern  white  man  must  live  together,  in  intimate 
neighborhood,  for  all  time  which  we  are  able  to  fore- 
see. It  is  essential  to  the  welfare  of  both  that  their 
relations  should  be  characterized  by  amity  and  good- 
will. But  the  Negro  ought  not  to  be  expected  to 
accept  with  satisfaction  any  condition  that  is  not 
honorable  and  just,  and  that  does  not  accord  with 
the  spirit  and  genius  of  American  institutions. 

The  part  which  the  Negro  has  played  in  American 
history  has  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  nation.  The  African  was  brought  to  this 
country  for  the  purpose  of  performing  manual  and 
menial  labor.  There  was  no  more  thought  of  incor- 
porating him  in  the  body-politic  than  of  thus  en- 
nobling the  lower  animals.  His  function  was  intended 
to  be  as  purely  mechanical  as  that  of  the  ox  which 
pulls  the  plough.  For  more  than  two  hundred  years 
he  performed  this  manual  mission.  He  cleared  the 
forests,  and  planted  the  fields,  and  made  the  wilderness 
to  blossom  as  the  rose.  The  whole  economic  and 
social  fabric  of  the  South  was  built  upon  his  muscular 
energy  under  the  guidance  of  the  white  man's  intel- 
ligence.    Through  the  discipline  of  slavery  he  gained 


96  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  English  language,  the  Christian  religion,  a  no- 
tion of  political  and  civil  institutions,  and  settled 
industrial  habits  and  methods.  His  grasp  upon  these 
principles  is  still  imperfect  and  uncertain,  and  needs 
to  be  confirmed  and  strengthened  by  the  discipline 
of  knowledge  and  freedom.  The  institution  of  slavery 
exploited  the  physical  capacities  of  the  Negro  for  the 
aggrandizement  of  the  white  race.  Whatever  inci- 
dental benefit  may  have  accrued  to  the  slave  cannot 
be  ascribed  to  the  moral  credit  of  that  regime  which 
possessed  not  the  slightest  semblance  of  altruistic 
intent. 

The  Negro  was  transformed  from  a  chattel  into 
a  citizen,  as  it  were,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye.  He  was  thrust  into  the  body-politic  with 
such  suddenness  and  shock  as  if  shot  from  the  can- 
non's mouth.  At  the  time  of  reconstruction  the  race 
was  solidly  illiterate,  excited  with  the  first  excesses 
of  freedom,  and  without  the  least  experience  in  gov- 
ernmental affairs.  And  so  the  Negro  became  the 
natural  and  inevitable  prey  of  the  self-seeker  and  the 
adventurer.  Grossness  and  grotesqueness  are  the  in- 
evitable outcome  of  good-natured  ignorance  under 
the  control  of  calculating  villainy.  The  Negro  merely 
played  the  part  of  bouffe  politics.  The  native 
Southerner  and  the  carpetbag  adventurer  vied  with 
each  other  for  public  plunder  and  spoil.  It  cannot 
be  shown,  however,  that  the  Negro  ever  supported 
any  measure  against  human  liberty  or  in  conflict  with 
the  Federal  Constitution.  The  reconstruction  con- 
stitutions display  a  higher  degree  of  patriotism  and 
public  righteousness  than  the  fraudulently  conceived, 
though  cunningly  contrived,  instruments  which  have 
succeeded  them. 

As  an  industrial  worker  the  Negro  is  docile  and 
productive.     He  does  not  join  in  the  ranks  of  the 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  97 

restless  and  discontented.  He  is  loyal  to  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  country,  and  strives  to  become  as  good 
an  American  as  his  fellow-citizens  will  permit  him 
to  be. 

The  criminal  propensity  of  the  Negro  is  the  charge 
that  is  being  most  widely  exploited  in  current  discus- 
sion. By  fragments  of  fact  and  jugglery  of  argu- 
ment he  is  made  to  appear  a  beast  in  human  form 
whose  vicious  tendency  constitutes  a  new  social 
plague.  The  Negro  is  held  in  moral  disesteem  because 
he  is  being  searched  and  sifted  mercilessly  for  ugly 
and  uninviting  information.  All  his  faults  are  being 
conned  and  set  down  by  rote.  If  as  diligent  search 
were  made  for  unseemly  and  forbidden  data  concern- 
ing any  other  class,  the  disclosure  might  be  equally 
darksome  and  damaging.  A  mental  and  moral  mor- 
bidity is  acquired  by  dwelling  upon  the  pathological 
side  of  society.  If  we  listen  to  the  pessimistic  wail 
of  the  social  purist  we  would  be  convinced  that  the 
human  race  is  doomed  to  speedy  destruction  through 
innumerable  physical  and  social  sins.  Intemperance, 
sexual  impurity,  and  civic  corruption  are  sure  to  ef- 
fect our  national  destruction.  And  yet  society  moves 
on,  like  a  mighty  river,  and,  despite  polluted  streams 
that  flow  into  it,  purifies  itself  as  it  goes.  Although 
the  Negro  is  hampered  by  an  initial  weight  of  social 
and  moral  degradation,  yet  his  upward  struggle  from 
corruption  to  purity  has  been  marked  and  unmistak- 
able. Those  who  are  most  prone  to  indulge  in  whole- 
sale tirade  about  his  moral  turpitude  do  not  seek 
knowledge  from  the  more  progressive  and  ambitious 
element,  but  preserve  a  studious  ignorance  concerning 
their  higher  aims  and  nobler  modes  of  life.  Gener- 
alization based  upon  the  study  of  the  most  degraded 
part  is  not  fair  to  the  whole.  This  mode  of  procedure 
would  blacken  the  reputation  of  any  people.   We  do 


98  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

not  judge  a  society  by  the  misfortune  of  its  sub- 
merged members,  but  by  the  ideals  toward  which  it 
strives  and  by  the  potency  and  promise  which  it 
displays. 

Several  years  ago  a  colored  man  of  glib  rhetorical 
facility  wrote  a  book  entitled  "  The  American  Negro," 
which  received  the  imprint  of  a  leading  publishing 
house.  The  Negro  author  excoriated  his  race  in  the 
most  merciless  manner.  He  held  it  up  to  the  scorn 
of  mankind  as  a  breed  of  moral  vipers.  These  scath- 
ing denunciations  were  supported  by  no  data  and  up- 
held by  no  verifiable  reference,  but  rested  solely  upon 
the  pessimistic  utterances  of  a  defamer  of  his  own 
race.  Indeed,  the  innuendoes  were  indignantly  denied 
by  white  and  black  alike,  who  had  opportunity  for 
knowledge  and  judgment  for  generalization.  These 
statements  gained  plausibility  and  credence  from  the 
fact  that  the  author  was  of  the  same  color  as  the 
class  which  is  reprobated;  and  the  book  has  been 
widely  appealed  to  as  a  buttress  to  blacken  the  moral 
reputation  of  the  Negro  race  and  to  damn  a  strug- 
gling people  to  everlasting  infamy. 

Damaging  charges  against  the  Negro's  social  char- 
acter are  usually  based  upon  the  following  facts  and 
assumptions : 

1.  That  the  Negro  shows  an  overwhelming  crim- 
inal record  as  compared  with  the  white  race. 

2.  That  the  percentage  of  crime  has  increased  un- 
der freedom  and  education. 

3.  That  the  Negro  of  the  North  shows  a  much 
higher  criminal  average  than  his  more  benighted 
brother  in  the  South. 

4.  That  the  colored  man  is  especially  addicted  to 
crime  of  an  execrable  and  nameless  character.* 

*  This  subject  is  discussed  in  open  letter  to  John  Temple 
Graves. 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  99 

According  to  the  census  of  1890,  the  Negro  con- 
stituted only  12  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States  and  contributed  30  per  cent,  of  the 
criminals.  In  Mississippi  there  were  1,425  colored 
and  219  white  prisoners  out  of  each  million  of  the 
respective  races ;  while  in  Massachusetts  the  numbers 
were  6,864  colored  and  2,262  whites.  Such  are  the 
facts  which,  uninterpreted,  can  be  quoted  in  support 
of  any  damaging  doctrine  that  might  be  advanced. 
No  person  of  knowledge  and  candor  will  deny  that 
the  Negro  in  the  South  is  more  readily  apprehended 
and  convicted  on  any  charge  than  the  white  offender. 
The  Negro  constitutes  the  lower  stratum  of  society, 
where  the  bulk  of  actionable  crime  is  committed  the 
world  over.  Social  degradation  is  the  great  contrib- 
uting factor  to  his  high  criminal  record.  If  the 
lower  element  of  the  white  race  should  be  segregated 
and  brought  under  the  microscope  of  sociological  in- 
vestigation, the  proscribed  class  would  doubtless  re- 
veal like  criminal  weakness.  The  foreign  element  of 
our  population  shows  a  higher  criminal  average  than 
the  native  whites,  as  they  occupy  a  decidedly  lower 
social  status. 

While  the  Negro's  criminal  record  exceeds  that  of 
the  white,  it  does  not  appear  that  his  presence  in  any 
community  increases  its  criminal  quality.  In  1890 
the  Western  division  of  States  had  1,300  prisoners 
out  of  every  million  inhabitants ;  the  North  Atlantic 
States,  838.1,  and  the  South  Atlantic  States,  with 
their  heavy  Negro  element,  had  only  831.7;  Missis- 
sippi had  1,177,  against  5,227  for  Massachusetts.  If 
the  Negroes  of  the  South  were  replaced  by  a  white 
population  there  is  no  statistical  indication  that  the 
moral  character  of  that  section  would  be  improved 
by  the  interchange.  There  is  nowhere  any  traceable 
casual  connection  between  crime  and  race,  the  relation 


100  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

being  between  crime  and  condition.  It  should  not  oc- 
casion surprise  that  the  free  Negro  shows  a  higher 
criminal  record  than  did  his  slave  progenitor.  Under 
the  surveillance  of  slavery  there  was  little  opportunity 
to  commit  crime,  and  punishment  for  offences  was 
personally  inflicted  by  the  master  without  any  public 
record.  Slavery  suppressed  wrongdoing,  but  did  not 
implant  the  corrective  principle,  so  that  when  the 
physical  restraint  was  removed  there  was  no  moral 
restraint  to  take  its  place.  The  increase  in  the  crim- 
inal rate  for  the  United  States  from  1880  to  1890 
was  12.49  per  cent.  The  parallel  growth  of  educa- 
tion and  crime  is  a  noticeable  phenomenon  of  the 
American  people  as  a  whole,  and  cannot  be  justly 
urged  to  the  discredit  of  the  Negro  alone. 

But,  says  the  objector,  in  the  North,  where  legal 
processes  are  acknowledged  to  be  fair,  and  where  the 
Negro  has  the  fullest  educational  opportunity,  he 
shows  a  criminal  rate  three  to  four  times  as  great  as 
his  ignorant  and  oppressed  brother  in  the  South. 
And  the  conclusion  is  hastily  reached  that  education 
makes  the  Negro  a  criminal.  Referring  to  the  above- 
cited  statistics,  it  will  be  seen  that  while  the  Negro 
in  Massachusetts  seems  to  be  five  times  as  criminal  as 
the  Negro  in  Mississippi,  it  appears  at  the  same  time 
that  the  white  man  in  Massachusetts  is  ten  times  as 
criminal  as  the  white  man  in  Mississippi.  Shall  we 
discount  the  superior  education  of  the  white  man  in 
the  Bay  State  because  he  seems  to  be  only  one-tenth 
as  saintly  as  his  less  enlightened  white  brother  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi?  Or  shall  we  foster  the 
bliss  of  ignorance  only  when  it  is  found  under  a  black 
skin  ?  Ordinarily  one  would  explain  the  high  criminal 
rate  of  the  Northern  States  on  the  ground  of  con- 
gested population  and  more  stringent  enforcement  of 
law;  but  logical  processes   seem  to  be  of  no  avail 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  101 

against  sweeping  assertions  to  the  detriment  of  the 
discredited  Negro. 

It  is  a  common  saying  that  the  colored  race  has 
made  greater  progress  since  emancipation  than  any 
other  people  known  to  history  in  a  like  space  of 
time.  In  order  to  measure  this  progress,  we  need  a 
knowledge  of  the  starting-point  as  well  as  a  fixed 
standard  of  calculation.  We  may  say  that  the  Negro 
began  at  the  zero  point,  with  nothing  to  his  credit 
but  the  crude  physical  discipline  of  slavery.  His 
progress  should  be  measured  in  terms  of  his  humble 
beginning  and  of  the  crude  instruments  with  which 
he  has  had  to  work  out  his  own  salvation.  He  cannot 
be  expected  as  yet  to  have  reached  the  fulness  of  the 
stature  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  who  enjoys  the  advan- 
tage of  centuries  of  inheritance  and  social  op- 
portunity. 

Moral  progress  can  hardly  be  gauged  in  terms  of 
material  units.  The  home  lies  at  the  basis  of  our 
social  morality.  The  last  census  shows  60.1  per  cent, 
of  the  white  population  of  the  United  States  to  be 
single,  36.4  per  cent,  married,  3.0  per  cent,  widowed, 
0.2  per  cent,  divorced,  and  0.3  per  cent,  of  unknown 
conjugal  status.  Among  the  Negroes  63.5  per  cent, 
are  single,  32.4  per  cent,  married,  3.5'  per  cent,  wid- 
owed, 0.3  per  cent,  divorced,  and  0.3  per  cent,  un- 
known. There  is  no  glaring  discrepancy  between  the 
two  races  as  to  the  relative  number  of  homes,  size  of 
family,  or  the  permanence  of  domestic  ties.  In  1890 
there  were  100  Negro  church  communicants  out  of 
every  279  of  the  population  against  100  out  of  304 
for  the  whites.  The  Negro  is  largely  enrolled  in 
patriotic,  benevolent,  fraternal,  and  social  organiza- 
tions, the  aim  of  all  of  which  is  toward  personal, 
moral,  and  social  improvement.  The  facts  also  dis- 
close that  the  Negro  is  engaged  in  settled  and  orderly 


102  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

industry  to  a  degree  that  must  be  promotive  of 
sobriety  and  good  behavior.  In  1890  only  36.4  per 
cent,  of  the  white  population  were  engaged  in  gainful 
occupations  against  41.1  per  cent,  of  Negroes  who 
were  thus  engaged.  People  who  but  a  brief  genera- 
tion ago  were  in  a  state  of  moral  and  social  confusion 
and  who  have  since  formed  definite  family  relations 
and  enlisted  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  Chris- 
tian church,  and  settled  in  regular  industrial  habits, 
might  well  be  regarded  as  having  made  marvelous  so- 
cial and  moral  progress.  While  there  remains  much 
grossness  and  imperfection,  yet  no  candid  observer 
can  fail  to  note  the  upward  trend  toward  better  and 
nobler  modes  of  life. 

In  the  domain  of  education  the  race  has  made  most 
notable  advancement.  The  rate  of  illiteracy  has 
steadily  declined,  until  now  it  is  only  44.6  per  cent, 
of  persons  over  ten  years  of  age.  There  is  a  school 
enrolment  of  1,096,734,  which  indicates  the  eagerness 
to  throw  off  the  shackles  of  ignorance.  When  a  peo- 
ple pass  from  an  illiterate  to  a  literate  stage,  life 
takes  on  a  new  incentive  and  meaning.  An  impulse  is 
imparted  which  yields  ever-increasing  momentum. 
Its  influence  can  never  be  lost,  but  is  carried  forward 
to  remotest  generations.  The  ability  to  read  and 
write  is  the  minimum  requirement  of  our  economic 
and  social  scheme.  It  is  the  pass-key  to  social  prog- 
ress,  and  unlocks  the  secret  and  method  of  civiliza- 
tion. We  should  not,  however,  expect  the  Negro's 
imperfect  grasp  upon  the  literary  symbols  of  knowl- 
edge suddenly  to  transform  and  uplift  him  to  the 
level  of  Aryan  attainment.  The  first  effect  of  sym- 
bolic knowledge  is  necessarily  potential  rather  than 
practical.  It  requires  time  for  the  new  acquisition  to 
become  assimilated  and  to  infiltrate  into  the  life  and 
react  upon  the  conduct.     The  process  of  education 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  103 

has  just  begun  to  do  its  beneficial  work.  The  urgent 
task  now  is  to  so  strengthen  and  confirm  the  princi- 
ples of  knowledge  that  the  Negro  shall  gain  an  in- 
telligent conception  of  the  object  and  aim,  not  merely 
of  labor,  but  of  life. 

It  has  become  the  fashion  to  say  that  the  education 
of  the  Negro  is  a  demonstrated  failure,  and  that  the 
effort  expended  upon  his  mental  development  has  been 
in  vain.  The  mode  of  education  undertaken  by  North- 
ern philanthropy  has  been  the  chief  object  of  attack. 
But  those  who  indulge  in  wholesale  assertions  are 
craftily  careful  to  avoid  a  bill  of  particulars.  They 
do  not  tell  us  that  Howard  University  or  Fisk  or  At- 
lanta has  been  a  failure;  but  their  chief  reliance  is 
placed  upon  the  frequent  repetition  of  the  charge, 
and  their  only  authority  is  arrogant  assumption  of 
infallibility.  When  we  consider  that  it  was  through 
the  inspiration  of  such  institutions  that  the  Negro 
race  received  its  upward  impulse;  that  they  trained, 
for  the  most  part,  the  teachers  who  are  conducting 
the  public  schools  of  the  South;  that  their  graduates 
and  sometime  pupils  are  scattered  throughout  the 
race  as  centers  for  good  and  are  doing  all  within  their 
power  to  enlighten,  guide,  and  restrain  the  ignorant 
masses ;  that  they  are  almost  without  exception  ad- 
vocates of  peace  and  good  will  between  the  races,  it 
is  difficult  to  see  upon  what  possible  fact  or  argument 
the  assumption  is  based. 

Let  us  take  as  an  illustration  of  this  type  of  edu- 
cation Howard  University,  situated  at  the  National 
Capital.  This  institution,  during  the  forty-two 
years  of  its  history,  has  expended  somewhere  between 
two  and  three  million  dollars  in  plant,  equipment,  and 
current  cost.  As  returns  on  this  investment,  it  has 
sent  into  the  world  900  physicians,  pharmacists,  and 
dentists,  450  laywers,  275  ministers  of  the  gospel,  500 


104  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

teachers,  800  persons  with  general  scholastic  educa- 
tion, together  with  thousands  of  sometime  pupils  who 
have  enjoyed  the  partial  benefits  of  its  course.  These 
graduates  and  sometime  pupils  are  found  in  every 
State  and  city  where  the  colored  population  abounds, 
and  are  filling  stations  of  usefulness  and  influence 
along  all  lines  of  high  endeavor.  They  are  preach- 
ing, practising,  pleading,  and  teaching,  and  are  guid- 
ing, directing,  and  inspiring  the  masses  to  a  higher 
and  better  life.  When  the  facts  are  carefully  and 
dispassionately  analyzed,  it  will  probably  appear  that 
nowhere  in  the  history  of  human  experience  has  the 
expenditure  of  a  like  sum  of  money  resulted  in  a 
higher  degree  of  social  good  than  the  fifty  millions 
contributed  by  Northern  philanthropy  for  the  en- 
lightenment of  this  belated  race. 

But  the  colored  race  has  received  $100,000,000 
from  the  public  school  funds  of  the  Southern  States, 
and  we  are  told,  with  all  the  assurance  of  infallibility, 
that  this  sum  has  been  misapplied  because  ignorance 
has  not  put  on  enlightenment,  poverty  has  not  given 
way  to  competence,  and  purity  has  not  banished  cor- 
ruption. One  hundred  million  dollars  is  a  princely 
sum  when  viewed  in  the  aggregate ;  but  it  is  only 
when  we  remember  that  this  amount  has  been  dis- 
tributed over  a  period  of  thirty-five  years,  scattered 
over  an  area  of  a  million  square  miles,  and  applied  to 
a  population  ranging  from  five  to  nine  million  souls, 
that  we  can  appreciate  its  woful  inadequacy  to  the 
task  imposed.  It  would  not  average  two  dollars  a 
year  for  each  Negro  child  of  school  age.  During 
1901  South  Carolina  expended  $726,825  for  the  edu- 
cation of  183,660  white  children,  and  only  $211,288 
for  that  of  287,540  colored  children.  The  educa- 
tional cost  of  each  white  child  was  $3.95  against 
$0.74  for  the  Negro  child.    If,  then,  the  educational 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  105 

facilities  for  the  white  children  of  the  South  are  wo- 
fully  inadequate  and  inefficient,  as  they  are  univer- 
sally conceded  to  be,  what  can  be  said  of  those  for 
colored  children?  If  it  requires  twenty-five  dollars  a 
year  in  Massachusetts  to  educate  a  white  boy  who 
has  the  stimulus  of  civilized  inheritance  and  enlight- 
ened environment,  how  can  we  expect  seventy-five 
cents  to  do  the  same  for  a  black  boy  in  South  Caro- 
lina who  misses  these  incentives?  The  condemnation 
of  Negro  education  at  this  stage  of  the  process  is 
merely  a  prejudiced  pronouncement  of  judgment  in 
advance  of  adequate  trial. 

That  the  Southern  whites  impose  a  tax  upon  them- 
selves to  educate  the  Negroes  has  been  so  frequently 
and  so  emphatically  asserted  that  it  has  almost  come 
to  be  an  accepted  maxim.  We  are  told  that  the  whites 
pay  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  taxes,  and  that  Negro 
education  is  almost  a  pure  gratuity  on  their  part. 
This  assumption  rests  upon  a  false  notion  of  political 
economy.  According  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  that  science,  labor  pays  every  tax  in  the  world. 
And  the  fact  that  the  laborer  may  not  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  handing  the  tribute  to  the  tax-taker  is 
no  reason  why  he  should  be  deprived  of  any  public 
privilege  which  his  labor  makes  possible.  The  dis- 
tribution of  public  benefits  in  proportion  to  tax-pay- 
ing ability  is  widely  at  variance  with  the  spirit  of 
American  institutions.  The  public  schools  were  in- 
stituted in  order  to  develop  and  maintain  a  higher 
and  more  efficient  citizenship.  To  this  end  the  child- 
less millionaire  is  laid  under  tribute  for  the  educating 
of  the  children  of  the  prolific  pauper.  The  Negro 
may  not  contribute  by  direct  taxation  in  proportion 
to  his  scholastic  requirements ;  yet,  indirectly,  public 
burdens  bear  most  heavily  upon  his  shoulders.  The 
Negro  is  the  laborer  of  the  South  and  contributes  his 


106  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

full  share  to  the  public  weal.  He  has  a  right  to  de- 
mand of  the  State  the  education  of  his  children  on 
equal  terms  with  others,  not  merely  as  a  civic  charity, 
but  as  a  public  right.  To  limit,  curtail,  or  abridge 
his  educational  opportunity  would  be  an  arbitrary 
misuse  of  power  without  justification  on  economic 
or  moral  grounds. 

Ex-Superintendent  Glenn,  of  Georgia,  and  Super- 
intendent Shields,  of  Florida,  have  shown  in  their 
published  reports  that  the  colored  people  in  these 
States,  at  least,  pay  the  full  cost  of  their  own  educa- 
tion. It  would  be  easy  enough  to  select  a  compara- 
tively small  number  of  individuals  in  New  York  or 
Massachusetts  who  pay  the  bulk  of  taxation  in  those 
commonwealths ;  but  we  never  hear  that  they  are  be- 
ing taxed  for  the  less  fortunate  element  of  the  com- 
munity. The  argument  runs  counterwise.  The  own- 
ers of  wealth  are  rather  regarded  as  the  beneficiaries 
of  the  burden  which  is  borne  by  the  laboring  classes. 

Despite  the  hard  industrial  disadvantages  under 
which  he  has  labored,  the  Negro  has  made  steady  ad- 
vancement in  the  accumulation  of  property.  There 
is  no  reliable  information  as  to  the  value  of  his  hold- 
ings except  in  two  or  three  States.  A  knowledge  of 
the  aggregate  of  value  of  this  property,  however,  is 
of  less  importance  than  of  its  distribution  throughout 
the  whole  race.  In  1890  there  were  in  the  Southern 
States,  including  Delaware  and  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, 231,758  Negroes  who  owned  their  farms  and 
homes,  only  18,000  of  which  carried  a  mortgage  in- 
cumbrance. Estimating  five  persons  to  the  farm 
or  household,  this  would  give  more  than  a  million 
persons  who  lived  on  their  own  premises.  The  last 
census  shows  156,372  Negro  owners  of  farms.  There 
were  746,717  Negro  farmers,  who,  either  as  owners  or 
tenants,    operated    farms    aggregating    37,000,000 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  107 

acres  of  land,  and  yielding  in  1899  a  productive  value 
of  $250,000,000.  The  Negro  operated  13  per  cent, 
of  all  the  farms  in  the  United  States.  In  the  South 
Atlantic  States  29.9  per  cent,  of  the  farms  were  oper- 
ated by  Negro  farmers,  27.2  per  cent,  in  the  South 
Central  States,  and  58.3  per  cent,  in  Mississippi.  In 
the  State  of  Governor  Vardaman  nearly  three-fifths 
of  the  farms  are  directed  by  black  proprietors.  These 
700,000  farms  contain  a  colored  population  of  about 
four  million  Negroes  who  have  gained  industrial  self- 
direction.  There  are  more  Negro  farmers  than  farm 
hands.  These  facts  give  us  some  indication  of  the 
industrial  power  of  the  Negro  in  the  Southern  States. 

A  most  significant  indication  of  progress  is  the 
emergence  of  a  superior  class.  The  talented  tenth 
constitutes  the  controlling  factor  in  the  life  of  any 
people.  The  institution  of  slavery  made  no  allowance 
for  superior  attainment.  Yet  all  slaves  could  not  be 
kept  on  the  same  low  level,  but  there  was  marked 
differentiation  as  to  character,  intelligence  and  am- 
bition. The  wider  opportunities  of  freedom  brought 
a  sudden  awakening  of  power.  Negro  youths  who 
were  deemed  incapable  of  knowledge  now  dispute 
academic  honors  with  the  choicest  collegians  of  Har- 
vard and  Yale.  The  Negro  aims  at  the  same  stan- 
dard of  attainment  for  which  the  Aryan  strives. 

There  is  a  growing  disposition  to  ignore  the  Negro 
of  superior  attainment  as  an  insignificant  exception 
or  freak  of  nature,  not  to  be  calculated  as  a  factor 
in  the  ordinary  equation.  The  white  race  is  charac- 
terized by  its  best  powers  and  capacities,  the  Negro 
by  his  worst.  The  Southern  white  man  is  construed 
to  mean  the  traditional  gentleman,  instinct  with  dig- 
nity, comity,  and  grace,  although  we  are  perfectly 
aware  that  numerically  he  represents  only  a  small 
percentage  of  the  people  whom  he  typifies.    But  when 


108  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

reference  is  made  to  the  Negro  we  are  prone  to  think 
of  a  composite  savage,  and  banish  from  the  mind  the 
superior  man  who  has  emerged  from  this  dark  and 
forbidden  background.  And  yet  it  would  be  easy 
enough  to  isolate  hundreds  of  thousands,  if  not  mil- 
lions, of  Southern  whites  who,  in  intelligence,  thrift 
and  general  respectability,  would  not  rank  above  a 
corresponding  number  of  Negroes  that  might  be 
chosen. 

Upon  the  enlightened  Negro  has  been  imposed  un- 
usual responsibility  and  opportunity  for  service.  He 
becomes  the  inevitable  leader  and  exemplar  of  his 
people.  They  look  to  him  as  their  guide,  philosopher 
and  friend.  Any  people  derive  inspiration  most  read- 
ily from  men  of  their  own  breed  who  have  risen  out 
of  their  own  environment.  When  one  colored  man  is 
elevated  the  whole  race  feels  the  uplifting  effect  of 
his  promotion.  As  the  individual  rises  he  draws  the 
whole  race  up  toward  his  own  level.  Current  philos- 
ophy seems  to  suppose  that  a  lever  can  be  put  under 
the  mass  of  the  race  and  pry  it  up  from  the  bottom, 
whereas  the  history  of  human  development  shows  that 
races  and  nations  and  peoples  are  uplifted  by  the 
elevation  of  their  choice  individuals  who  draw  them 
up  toward  the  top.  It  is  the  part  of  sound  states- 
manship and  wise  philanthropy  to  encourage  the  bet- 
ter aspirations  of  this  people.  There  is  nothing  to 
fear  from  a  people  who  aspire.  It  is  rather  a  vege- 
tative race,  without  a  soul  that  animates  and  spirit 
that  strives,  that  forms  a  blight  upon  civilization. 

The  ignorant  must  be  enlightened,  the  vicious  must 
be  restrained,  the  sick  and  afflicted  must  be  soothed 
and  healed,  the  lethargic  must  be  inspired,  and  the 
hungry  soul  must  be  satisfied  with  spiritual  solace. 
Under  the  intolerant  social  policy  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
these  ministrations  must  be  directed  by  members  of 


THE    NEGRO'S    PART  109 

the  benefited  race.  A  million  Negro  children  are 
taught  by  Negro  teachers.  Three  million  church 
communicants  are  led  in  paths  of  truth  and  righteous- 
ness by  their  own  ministers ;  the  sick  are  attended  by 
sympathetic  physicians ;  the  newspapers,  magazines, 
and  other  organs  of  public  opinion  by  which  the  peo- 
ple are  inspired  to  high  endeavor  are  conducted  by 
men  of  their  own  blood.  The  members  of  this  con- 
trolling class  are  scattered  thoughout  the  entire 
race,  as  diffusive  centers  of  light ;  and  this  little 
leaven  must  ultimately  leaven  the  whole  lump.  These 
leaders  should  be  carefully  trained  and  qualified  for 
this  function,  which  is  second  to  none  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  general  welfare  of  the  American  people. 

It  is  charged  that  the  enlightened  Negro  does  not 
restrain  the  evil  tendency  of  the  most  vicious  and  de- 
graded of  his  own  race.  It  must  always  be  remem- 
bered that  the  Negro  leader  is  not  entrusted  with 
governmental  function.  He  exerts  only  moral  au- 
thority, and  has  no  way  of  reaching  the  hardened 
criminal,  either  in  church  or  school  or  by  personal  or 
social  intercourse;  for  the  criminally  disposed  of 
every  race  shun  ennobling  contact,  and  are  amenable 
only  to  the  rigid  hand  of  the  law.  The  white  man 
controls  the  machinery  of  government,  and  should 
suppress  and  restrain  the  vicious  and  worthless,  not 
in  a  spirit  of  race  vindictiveness,  but  for  the  common 
good  of  all.  The  better  class  of  colored  people  is 
being  rapidly  recruited.  In  intelligence,  thrift,  pur- 
ity of  life  and  decorum  of  manners  its  upward  move- 
ment is  marked  and  unmistakable.  In  spite  of  oblo- 
quy, denunciation,  ridicule,  doubt  and  denial,  it  is 
steadily  climbing  and  lifting  as  it  climbs. 

The  race  question  in  America  is  a  tough  and 
tangled  one.  Its  issues  are  as  intricate  in  their  rela- 
tions and  as  far-reaching  in  their  consequences  as  any 


110  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

problem  which  has  ever  pressed  upon  human  wisdom 
for  solution.  Despite  our  pride  of  theory  and  cock- 
sure solutions  that  are  so  confidently  projected  and 
so  vociferously  proclaimed,  it  continues  to  baffle  our 
wisdom  and  buffet  our  hopes.  While  we  may  not  be 
able  to  see  the  distant  scene,  we  should  nevertheless 
proceed  step  by  step  in  the  direction  of  duty.  Jus- 
tice, intelligence,  thrift  and  character  are  virtues  of 
undisputed  value,  and  apply  to  all  men  under  all  con- 
ceivable conditions.  If  the  white  man,  North  or 
South,  in  dealing  with  his  weaker  brother,  will  apply 
the  principle  of  justice,  and  encourage  him  in  the 
development  of  intelligence,  thrift  and  character,  he 
may  safely  free  his  mind  from  the  dread  of  destiny 
which  now  occasions  such  anxious  solicitude. 


SOCIAL    EQUALITY 

A  stranger  to  American  institutions  would  be 
curiously  impressed  by  the!  separate  and  distinct 
social  areas  which  the  two  races  occupy.  Here  are 
two  peoples,  domiciled  in  the  same  territory,  vested 
with  equal  civil  and  political  rights,  speaking  the 
same  language,  loyal  to  the  same  institutions,  wor- 
shipping God  after  the  same  ritual,  and  linked  to- 
gether in  a  common  destiny;  and  yet  in  all  purely 
personal  and  pleasurable  intercourse  they  are  as  far 
apart  as  if  separated  by  interstellar  space.  "  Social 
equality  "  is  the  shibboleth  which  divides  the  races 
asunder.  This  slogan,  like  a  savage  warwhoop, 
arouses  the  deepest  venom  of  race,  which  slumbers 
only  skin  deep  beneath  a  thin  veneer  of  civilization. 
This  expression  cannot  be  defined  according  to  the 
ordinary  import  and  weight  of  words.  Whoever 
coined  it  possessed  a  genius  for  summoning  the  evil 
spirit.  The  term  has  no  exact  lexical  status,  but  it  is 
surcharged  with  idiomatic  meaning.  We  can  no  more 
determine  its  potency  and  power  from  the  component 
words  than  we  can  judge  the  emblematic  significance 
of  "  Old  Glory  "  by  the  fabric  and  dyestuff  that  en- 
ter into  its  composition.  As  the  sight  of  the  flag 
evokes  the  patriotic  zeal  of  the  loyal  beholder,  or  as 
the  soldier  makes  frantic  response  to  the  alarm  "  to 
arms,"  so  the  tocsin  "  social  equality  "  arouses  the 
pride  of  class  and  wrath  of  race.  "  Social  "  and 
"  equality "  are  two  excellent,  elegant  words ;  but 
"  social  equality  "  must  not  be  pronounced  in  good 
society,  like  two  harmless  chemical  elements  uniting 

111 


112  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

to  make  a  dangerous  compound.  This  phrase  has 
unbounded  potency  over  the  passion  of  the  white 
man  of  the  South.  He  religiously  obeys  its  behest, 
at  whatever  sacrifice  or  cost  of  conscience.  He  bows 
down  and  worships  before  a  verbal  idol  with  fear 
and  trembling,  as  a  heathen  before  his  graven  god. 
The  sanction  of  its  decree  is  more  binding  than  that 
of  legal  code,  religious  creed,  or  the  claims  of  human- 
ity. Pope  has  given  a  poetic  setting  to  the  moral 
conviction  of  mankind  that  conscience  is  the  rightful 
arbiter  of  conduct: 

"  What  conscience  dictates  to  be  done, 

Or   warns   me   not   to   do; 
This  teach  me  more  than  hell  to  shun, 

That   more   than  heaven   pursue." 

If  in  this  elegant  quatrain  we  substitute  "  social 
equality  "  for  conscience,  although  we  mar  the  meter, 
we  adapt  the  meaning  to  the  social  creed  of  the 
South.  The  interpretation  which  that  section  places 
upon  "  social  equality  "  constitutes  the  crux  of  the 
race  problem,  and  conditions  all  modes  of  rights, 
privileges  and  opportunity,  whether  they  be  political, 
civil,  educational  or  industrial.  By  reason  of  its 
exactions  the  Negro  is  not  desired  by  the  white  man 
to  vote  for  the  same  candidate,  work  at  the  same 
handicraft,  enjoy  the  same  public  and  civic  privi- 
leges, to  worship  at  the  same  shrine,  or  to  be  buried 
in  the  same  graveyard.  It  is  indeed  the  ruling  pas- 
sion strong  in  death.  Race  rjre-judice  which  this 
phrase  evokes  is  not  amenable  to  the  formulas  of 
logic ;  it  is  impatient  of  fact,  and  intolerant  of  argu- 
ment and  demonstration.  It  does  not  reason,  it  as- 
serts and  asseverates.  Its  traditional  method  is  a 
word  and  a  blow. 

At  one  time  is  was  the  avowed  policy  of  the  domi- 


SOCIAL    EQUALITY  113 

nant  South  to  furnish  the  Negro  equal  public  oppor- 
tunity with  the  whites,  while  insisting  on  the  separa- 
tion of  the  races  in  all  purely  social  features.  This 
was  the  gospel  according  to  the  late  Henry  W. 
Grady,  who,  before  his  untimely  death,  bid  fair  to 
become  not  only  the  mouthpiece  but  the  oracle  of  the 
New  South.  Senator  D.  M.  McEnery,  of  Louisiana, 
in  a  notable  speech  in  the  United  States  Senate  sev- 
eral years  ago,  said :  "  There  never  has  been  any 
disposition  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Louisiana 
to  deprive  the  Negro  of  his  political  and  civil  rights. 
There  has  been  and  will  continue  to  be  determination, 
fixed  and  unalterable,  to  deny  him  social  privilege  on 
equality  with  the  whites,  and  to  prohibit  him  from 
aspiring  to  any  equality  in  social  life,  which  nature 
forbids."  Passing  by  the  gracious  proffer  to  assist 
nature  in  carrying  out  her  inexorable  decree,  this 
deliverance  shows  plainly  that  the  social  policy  of 
the  South  is  regarded  as  the  primary  factor,  and 
political  and  civil  regulations  are  but  corollaries  of 
the  leading  proposition.  In  society,  as  in  science,  the 
greater  includes  the  less. 

But  of  late  we  have  heard  a  new  voice  from  the 
South.  It  is  louder  and  less  considerate  of  the 
claims  of  humanity  than  the  milder  tones  of  the  more 
dignified  and  decorous  leadership  which  it  seeks  to 
supplant.  This  is  the  voice  of  Tillman  and  Varda- 
man  and  Baringer  and  Thomas  Dixon.  These  new 
oracles  tell  us  that  the  Negro  must  be  denied  politi- 
cal, civil,  educational,  and  even  industrial  opportu- 
nity, lest  "  social  equality  "  should  be  the  consumma- 
tion of  it  all.  The  Ten  Commandments,  the  Golden 
Rule,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  genius  and  tradition  of  American  institutions 
are  held  in  open  defiance  by  a  narrow  and  provincial 


114  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

spirit.  The  ethical  and  political  foundations  of 
social  order  are  ruthlessly  overborne  by  the  fiat  of  a 
silly  phrase.  The  question  is  of  vital  concern  to 
every  loyal  American  citizen.  For  if  this  spirit  is 
allowed  to  prevail,  and  the  Negro  is,  of  set  policy, 
suppressed  below  the  level  of  American  manhood,  in 
deference  to  an  absurd  social  theory,  then  his  status 
will  inevitably  settle  into  a  servile  caste  as  rigid  and 
inexorable  as  that  which  blights  Oriental  civilization. 
The  enlightened  patriotism  that  rose  up  in  righteous 
wrath  against  human  slavery  cannot  view  with  com- 
posure the  establishment  on  American  soil  of  an  in- 
iquitous caste  which  is  even  more  repugnant  to  the 
genius  of  free  institutions.  The  silent  South,  the 
survivors  and  descendants  of  the  better  type  of  the 
slave-holding  class,  the  men  and  women  in  whose 
breasts  not  even  the  blighting  influence  of  slavery 
could  sour  the  milk  of  human  kindness,  are  now  held, 
as  in  a  vise,  by  this  narrow  and  intolerant  spirit. 
They  have  no  frantic  dread  of  the  social  affiliation  of 
the  races.  Indeed,  according  to  their  traditional  so- 
cial code,  intimate  personal  association  with  the  un- 
couth and  uncultivated  whites  is  almost  as  distasteful 
a  contemplation.  And  yet  the  cry  of  social  equality 
has  been  so  persistently  and  boisterously  dinned  in 
their  ears  that  an  imaginary  evil  has  assumed  the 
semblance  of  a  real  danger.  Their  voice  has  been 
hushed;  they  have  become  tongue-tied,  and  are  as 
completely  divested  of  freedom,  either  of  action  or 
utterance,  as  the  poor  Negro  who  bears  the  brunt  of 
it  all.  If  liberal-minded  Southern  white  men,  like 
George  W.  Cable,  or  John  Spencer  Bassett,  or  An- 
drew Sledd,  though  still  yielding  allegiance  to  the 
prevailing  social  dogma,  dare  lift  their  voice,  even 
in  faintest  whisper,  in  protest  against  the  evil  per- 
petrated in  its  name,  they  are  forthwith  lashed  into 


SOCIAL    EQUALITY  115 

silence  by  popular  fury  and  scorn.  Race  hatred  is 
the  most  malignant  poison  that  can  afflict  the  mind. 
It  chills  the  higher  faculties  of  the  soul.  The  restive- 
ness  of  the  high-souled  sons  of  the  South  under  re- 
striction imposed  by  the  less-enlightened  of  their  own 
race  is  the  only  hopeful  rift  that  we  can  see  in  the 
dark  and  lowering  cloud. 

Every  system  of  oppression  seeks  to  justify  itself. 
The  institutions  of  slavery  ransacked  science,  history, 
literature,  and  religion  in  quest  of  fact  and  argu- 
ment to  uphold  the  iniquitous  system.  There  is  al- 
most an  exact  parallel  between  the  methods  employed 
in  support  of  human  slavery  and  those  that  are  now 
being  resorted  to  in  justification  of  the  decrees  of 
"  social  equality." 

We  are  told  that  the  separation  of  the  races  is 
ordained  of  God,  just  as  slavery  used  to  be  called  a 
"  divine  institution."  It  is  strange  indeed  that  those 
who  breathe  out  hatred  and  slaughter  against  their 
fellow-men  are  ever  prone  to  claim  divine  prerogative 
in  carrying  out  their  iniquitous  scheme.  The  alliance 
of  Providence  with  the  type  of  men  who  are  now 
leading  the  propaganda  of  race  hatred  would  reverse 
all  of  our  received  notions  of  the  divine  attri- 
butes. 

Physical  dissimilarity  is  seized  upon  as  a  badge  of 
distinction,  and  a  hasty  judgment  easily  confuses  the 
index  with  the  indicated  potency.  But,  as  is  well 
known,  the  difference  of  race  and  color  has  never  pre- 
vented the  closest  intimacy  of  personal  association. 
The  gentleman  who  drives  to  the  station  "  cheek  by 
jowl"  with  his  black  coachman,  but  who  becomes 
furious  on  being  made  joint  occupant  with  a  black 
seat-fellow  in  a  railway  coach,  is  actuated  by  an  im- 
pulse other  than  purely  physical  repugnance.  If  race 
friction  rested  solely  upon  physical  basis  we  should 


116  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

expect  its  rigor  to  be  uniform  wherever  such  dis- 
tinctions prevail.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find 
that  it  is  subject  to  the  widest  latitude  of  variability, 
and  is  almost  indefinitely  modifiable  by  circumstances 
and  conditions.  It  presents  little  of  the  fixity  and  in- 
flexible character  of  natural  law.  The  Teuton  mani- 
fests it  in  a  different  degree  from  the  Latin  races, 
with  whom  ethnic  peculiarities  count  for  little  or  noth- 
ing against  moral  and  spiritual  homogeneity.  Rio 
de  Janeiro  and  Richmond,  Virginia,  are  typical  illus- 
trations of  the  two  spirits  as  respects  the  entente  of 
dissimilar  races.  Prejudice  is  more  pronounced,  or 
at  least  assumes  a  different  aspect,  in  the  Southern 
than  in  the  Northern  States,  being  stimulated  by  the 
relative  number  or  erstwhile  status  of  the  two  ele- 
ments. It  becomes  mild  or  virulent,  according  to  in- 
centive or  occasion.  In  individual  instances  it  almost 
or  wholly  disappears,  and  can  be  aroused  only  by 
playing  upon  class  interests,  prejudice,  and  pride. 
Grant  Allen  tells  us  somewhere  that  the  same  English- 
man who  seems  to  ignore  race  differences  at  home  be- 
comes the  most  intolerant  of  men  when  he  takes  resi- 
dence in  the  colonies.  If  the  separation  of  the  races 
is  a  decree  of  Providence  working  through  nature, 
what  need  of  human  help  in  carrying  out  that  decree? 
The  re-enactment  of  the  laws  of  the  Almighty  leads 
naturally  to  the  suspicion  that  those  who  so  eagerly 
proffer  this  assistance  are  actuated  by  a  wish  rather 
than  a  conviction.  The  Negro  is  not  credited  with 
natural  repugnance  against  associating  with  white 
men.  The  charge  that  they  must  be  restricted  in 
their  eagerness  for  such  association  is  the  highest 
possible  unwitting  proof  that  the  aversion  between 
the  races  cannot  be  wholly  accounted  for  by  natural 
antipathy.  The  lion  and  the  lamb  do  not  enjoy  a 
common  bed,  because  such  social  intimacy  is  doubt- 


SOCIAL    EQUALITY  117 

less  as  distasteful  to  the  lamb  as  to  the  lion.    Natural  / 
antipathy  is  a  reciprocal  feeling. 

There   is   little  room   to   doubt   that   the    feeling 
against  the  Negro  is  of  the  nature  of  inspirited  ani- 

1+  mosity  rather  than  natural  antipathy,  and  can  be 
accounted  for,  in  large  part,  by  the  traditional  place 
which  he  has  occupied  in  the  social  scheme.  A  people 
who  have  yet  made  no  considerable  contribution  to 
the  general  culture  of  the  human  spirit,  and  whose 
traditional  relation  with  European  civilization  has 
been  of  a  servile  sort,  are  not  deemed  eligible  to  the 
ennobling  circle  of  Aryan  fellowship.  The  violent 
severance  of  servile  bonds,  and  the  humiliation  of 
the  Southern  man's  tough  Teutonic  spirit  by  outside 
compulsion,  engendered  deep  and  long-abiding  ani- 
mosities. 

But  the  chief  cause  of  race  estrangement  is  of  a 
political  nature,  if  we  be  allowed  to  use  that  term, 

\/  not  merely  in  the  technical  sense  of  statecraft,  but 
as  comprehending  the  calculated  policy  of  the  rul- 
ing class  toward  the  despised  element.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  class  consciousness  is  one  of  the  most  familiar 
phenomena  of  history.  The  line  of  demarcation  is 
drawn  at  any  easily  discernible  difference,  whether  it 
be  geographical,  racial,  natural,  political,  religious, 
or  at  minor  distinctions  of  a  physical  or  psychical  na- 
ture. History  is  largely  concerned  with  the  conflict 
of  antithetic  classes.  The  struggle  between  Greek 
and  Barbarian,  Jew  and  Gentile,  Christian  and  Mo- 
hammedan, Catholic  and  Protestant,  Norman  and 
Saxon,  is  but  prototype  of  the  conflict  which  now 
wages  about  the  color  line.  Evil  disposition  com- 
bined with  shrewdly  calculated  design  can  always  stir 
up  class  friction.  Two  friendly  baseball  teams  can 
easily  be  wrought  up  to  a  pitch  of  murderous  fury 
against  each  other.     The  yellow  press  of  this  coun- 


118  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

try  can,  within  a  few  months,  involve  the  United 
States  in  war  with  a  nation  with  whom  we  are  now 
on  the  closest  terms  of  international  friendship.  A 
^^heterogeneous  population,  where  the  elements  are,  on 
any  account,  easily  distinguishable,  furnishes  an  easy 
prey  for  the  promoter  of  strife.  The  fuse  is  already 
prepared  for  the  spark.  The  peace  and  tranquillity 
of  such  a  community  depend  upon  the  highest  en- 
lightenment and  moral  restraint  in  the  leadership  of 
the  separable  elements. 

That  the  dominant  South  is  determined  to  foster 
artificial  barriers  between  the  races  is  clearly  seen  in 
the  utterances  and  action  of  its  leaders.  It  was  Henry 
W.  Grady  who  laid  down  the  platform :  "  We  believe 
that  there  is  an  instinct,  ineradicable  and  positive, 
which  keeps  the  races  apart.  We  add  in  perfect 
frankness,  however,  that  if  the  South  had  any  rea- 
sonable doubt  of  its  existence  it  would  by  every 
means  in  its  power,  so  strengthen  the  race  prejudice 
that  it  would  do  the  work  and  hold  the  stubbornness 
and  strength  of  instinct."  The  more  recent  leader- 
ship of  the  South,  without  the  clear  discernment  and 
conscientious  restraint  of  the  brilliant  Georgian,  has 
seized  upon  his  suggestion  for  sinister  and  selfish 
ends.  They  have  harped  upon  the  chord  of  race 
prejudice  as  a  musician  upon  his  favorite  instrument. 
Seemingly  dubious  of  the  sufficiency  of  natural  an- 
tipathy, they  have  sought  to  give  it  the  requisite 
strength  and  stubbornness.  The  fire  of  race  hatred 
has  been  fanned  until  it  has  become  an  uncontrollable 
flame.  Sociologists  tell  us  that  the  collective  soul  is 
less  sensitive  than  the  conscience  of  the  individual. 
It  responds  to  the  shibboleths  and  slogans  whose  re- 
frain is  malice  and  strife.  The  soul  of  the  mob  is 
stirred  by  the  suggestion  of  hatred  and  slaughter, 
as  a  famished  beast  at  the  smell  of  blood.     Hatred 


SOCIAL    EQUALITY  119 

is  a  great  social  dynamic,  the  ever-handy  instrument 
of  the  unscrupulous  demagogue.  The  rabble  re- 
sponds so  much  more  easily  to  an  appeal  to  passion 
than  to  reason.  To  wantonly  stir  up  the  fires  of  race 
antipathy  is  as  execrable  a  deed  as  flaunting  a  red 
rag  in  the  face  of  a  bull  at  a  summer's  picnic,  or 
of  raising  a  false  cry  of  "  fire  "  in  a  crowded  house. 
And  yet  this  is  just  what  the  politician  is  doing  in 
order  to  carry  his  crafty  ends.  He  has  raised  the 
cry  of  "  Negro  domination  "  when  all  the  world 
knows  that  the  Negro  is  no  more  able  to  dominate 
the  South  than  the  babies  in  the  cradle.  But  it  serves 
its  purpose  by  raising  race  animosity,  which  easily 
overrides  all  arguments  based  on  tax,  tariff,  or  the 
relative  value  of  silver  and  gold. 

The  charge  that  the  educated  Negro  is  in  quest 
of  social  affiliation  with  the  whites  is  absurdly  un- 
true. His  sense  of  self-respect  effectively  forbids 
forcing  himself  upon  any  unwelcome  association.! 
Household  intercourse  and  domestic  familiarity  are' 
essentially  questions  of  personal  privilege.  The 
choice  of  one's  friends  and  intimate  associates  is  the 
most  delicate  phase  of  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
Such  matters  are  regulated  wholly  by  personal  pref- 
erence and  affinity  of  taste.  The  social  integrity  of 
the  white  race  is  within  its  own  keeping.  The  social 
citadel  is  not  subject  to  assault  and  battery.  The 
aphorism  of  Emerson  is  as  true  of  races  as  of  indi- 
viduals :  "  No  man  can  come  near  me  except  through 
my  own  act." 

The  Negro  is  building  up  his  own  society  based 
upon  character,  culture,  and  the  nice  amenities  of 
life,  and  can  find  ample  social  satisfaction  within  the 
limits  of  his  own  race.  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard 
University,  has  told  us  in  a  recent  utterance  that  the 
white  man  of  the  North  is  not  less  averse  than  his 


120  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Southern  brother  to  the  social  mingling  of  the  races. 
The  Negro,  too,  has  social  sensibilities.  He  will 
never  complain  against  any  white  man,  North  or 
South,  because  he  is  not  invited  to  dine  at  his  table, 
sit  in  his  pew,  or  dance  with  his  daughter.  But  the 
Negro  ought  not  to  be  expected  to  accept  that  inter- 
pretation of  "  social  equality  "  which  would  rob  him 
of  political  and  civil  rights,  as  well  as  of  educational 
and  industrial  opportunity. 

For  the  Negro  supinely  to  surrender  his  status  of 
political  and  civic  equality  would  be  as  unmanly  as 
a  silly  insistence  upon  unwelcome  social  relations 
would  be  unmannerly.  The  Negro  and  the  white 
man  in  this  country  must  live  together  for  all  time 
which  we  can  foresee.  They  must  mingle  in  business 
and  in  public  life.  All  their  relations  should  be  char- 
acterized by  mutual  respect,  courtesy,  and  good  will. 
In  all  purely  personal  and  social  matters  let  each,  if 
he  will,  go  unto  his  own  company. 


THE    CITY    NEGRO 

There  are  two  distinct  branches  of  the  Negro 
problem,  viz.,  the  rural  and  the  urban.  The  prob- 
lem of  the  country  Negro  may  be  deferred,  that  of 
his  urban  brother  is  immediate  and  imperative.  While 
the  former  may  be  preserved  indefinitely,  embalmed 
as  it  were  in  a  state  of  nature,  the  latter  demands 
immediate  rescue  from  destruction. 

The  influx  of  rural  population  into  large  centers 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  serious  sociological  move- 
ments of  the  last  half  century.  The  evils  which  flow 
in  the  train  of  this  movement  have  been  universally 
noted  and  commented  upon.  Such  evils  fall  most 
heavily  upon  the  poor  Negroes,  who  are  allured  to 
the  destruction  of  city  life  as  moths  by  the  glare  of 
the  candle.  These  unfortunate  people  rush  from 
the  country  where  they  have  a  useful  status  and 
function  to  the  city  where  there  is  no  industrial 
raison  d'etre  for  them,  and  inevitably  they  sink  to  the 
bottom  of  the  social  scale,  where  they  form  the 
dregs,  the  scum,  and  menace  of  municipal  life.  A 
counter-stream  of  tendency  which  will  return  this 
element  to  the  place  where  it  may  become  a  helpful 
contributing  factor  is  a  sociological  desideratum  de- 
voutly to  be  wished. 

The  urban  Negro  constitutes  a  larger  per  cent,  of 
the  race  than  is  generally  supposed.  It  is  the  preva- 
lent belief  that  90  per  cent,  of  this  race  live  in  direct 
contact  with  the  soil.  There  are  nearly  eight  hun- 
dred cities  and  towns  in  the  South,  of  more  than 
2500  inhabitants,  containing  about  one  and  a  quar- 

121 


122  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

ter  million  Negroes.  In  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Ar- 
kansas, North  and  South  Carolina  the  urban  element 
constitutes  from  6  to  12  per  cent,  of  the  total  Negro 
population;  in  Georgia,  Virginia,  Louisiana,  Texas, 
Florida,  and  West  Virginia,  from  16  to  20  per  cent. ; 
in  Tennessee,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and 
Missouri,  from  27  to  55  per  cent.  It  is  quite  notice- 
able that  the  city  element  is  much  larger  propor- 
tionally in  the  border  States  than  in  the  far  South. 
It  may  occasion  some  surprise  to  note  that  more  than 
half  the  Negro  population  of  Missouri,  two-fifths  of 
that  of  Maryland,  and  more  than  a  third  of  that  of 
Kentucky,  are  found  in  the  towns  and  cities.  In  the 
North  and  West  the  cities  contain  a  still  larger  pro- 
portion of  the  race.  When  a  Negro  leaves  the  South 
he  almost  never  proceeds  to  rural  surroundings,  but 
makes  a  bee-line  for  the  large  and  attractive  centers. 
According  to  the  census  of  1900  there  were  seven- 
ty-two cities  containing  over  five  thousand  Negro 
inhabitants ;  of  these,  five  contained  over  60,000 ;  fif- 
teen, over  20,000;  thirty-two,  over  10,000.  Wash- 
ington heads  the  list  with  86,000 ;  Baltimore,  79,000 ; 
New  Orleans,  77,000;  Philadelphia,/  63,000;  New 
York,  60,000,  and  Memphis,  49,000.  The  rate  of 
increase  for  the  city  Negro  during  the  last  census 
decade  was  30  per  cent.,  against  18  per  cent,  for  the 
country  at  large.  Charleston,  Richmond,  and  Nash- 
ville remained  almost  stationary,  while  Memphis, 
Louisville,  and  Atlanta  made  surprising  gains.  On 
the  whole  the  Northern  cities  show  the  largest  per- 
centage of  growth.  Philadelphia  increased  by  56 
per  cent. ;  New  York,  66  per  cent.,  and  Chicago  111 
per  cent.  The  Negro  element  of  the  Windy  City, 
now  numbering  30,000,  more  than  doubled  itself  in 
a  single  decade.  Already  the  alarmist  has  informed 
us  that  the  great  cities  of  the  North  are  threatened 


THE    CITY    NEGRO  123 

with  a  black  deluge.  At  the  present  rate  of  growth 
Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Chicago  would  each 
contain  three-quarters  of  a  million  Negroes  by  the 
middle  of  this  century.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
is  impossible  to  predict,  except  in  the  vaguest  and 
most  general  terms,  the  permanent  growth  of  the 
Negro  element  in  large  cities.  This  growth  depends 
wholly  upon  immigration.  So  far  as  the  facts  have 
been  ascertained,  it  appears  that  the  Negro  in  the 
North  is  not  a  self-sustaining  quantity  except 
through  fresh  reinforcement  from  the  South.  The 
mobile  Negro  element  shifts  from  place  to  place  ac- 
cording to  temporary  attraction.  A  given  city  will 
hold  just  so  many  of  this  class  in  solution  before 
reaching  the  point  of  saturation,  resulting  in  a  black 
precipitation.  The  Negro  element  in  Washington 
increased  by  56  per  cent,  between  1880  and  1890, 
but  dropped  to  13  per  cent,  during  the  last  decade; 
the  growth  in  Nashville  dropped  from  79  per  cent, 
from  '80  to  '90,  to  a  paltry  %  per  cent,  for  the  subse- 
quent decade.  It  seems  quite  evident  that  such  cities 
as  Charleston,  Nashville,  and  Richmond  have  about 
touched  high-water  mark  so  far  as  the  Negro  popu- 
lation is  concerned,  and  even  the  Capital  of  the  na- 
tion does  not  seem  subject  to  much  further  expan- 
sion in  that  direction.  It  is  misleading  to  predict 
the  permanent  tendency  of  the  Negro  population  by 
its  spasmodic  movement  during  a  decade  of  unusual 
commotion  and  unrest. 

The  census  defines  a  city  as  a  place  of  8000  or 
more  inhabitants.  There  were  in  1900  forty-one 
places  with  over  8000  Negroes,  making  a  total  of 
more  than  a  million  black  souls.  This  exceeds  the 
city  population  of  the  United  States  in  1830.  A 
clearer  idea  of  the  significance  of  these  numbers  can 
be   had   by   the    following    comparisons :    If    all   the 


124*  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

white  residents  should  withdraw  from  Washington, 
Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  Philadelphia,  New  York, 
and  Memphis,  the  black  residue  would  form  munici- 
palities of  the  respective  sizes  of  Grand  Rapids, 
Seattle,  Wilmington,  Del.,  Des  Moines,  Evansville, 
and  Portland,  Me.  The  Negro  element  constitutes 
the  majority  of  the  population  in  Charleston,  Savan- 
nah, Montgomery,  Jacksonville,  Shreveport,  Vicks- 
burg,  Natchez,  Baton  Rouge,  Athens,  Ga.,  and 
Winston,  N.  C. 

A  noticeable  feature  of  the  city  Negro  is  the  ten- 
dency to  segregate  into  certain  sections  and  locali- 
ties. This  is  more  strikingly  apparent  in  the  North 
than  in  the  South.  Every  large  city  has  its  white 
wards  and  its  black  wards,  which  the  politician  under- 
stands as  well  as  the  seaman  knows  the  depths  and 
shallows  of  the  sea.  In  1890,  and  the  tendency  has 
been  accentuated  since  that  time,  one  ward  in  Phila- 
delphia contained  9000  Negroes,  three  wards  in  Chi- 
cago contained  9000,  and  three  wards  of  New  York 
contained  13,000. 

The  predominance  of  the  female  element  is  perhaps 
the  most  striking  phenomenon  presented  by  the  urban 
Negro  population.  The  females  are  in  the  vast  ma- 
jority in  all  of  the  large  cities,  except  Chicago. 

About  one-half  the  colored  race  in  cities  are  en- 
gaged in  gainful  occupations,  but  are  confined  mainly 
to  three  or  four  lines  of  unskilled  or  menial  pursuits. 
Colored  women  are  engaged  almost  as  extensively  as 
the  men,  their  sphere  of  gainful  activity  being  con- 
fined chiefly  to  domestic  service  and  "  taking  in  wash- 
ing." We  have  not  the  prescient  power  to  foresee 
the  time  when  this  condition  will  be  materially  differ- 
ent. These  people  should  be  made  efficient  along 
the  lines  of  work  that  inevitably  devolves  upon 
them. 


THE    CITY    NEGRO  125 

The  number  of  Negroes  following  mechanical  pur- 
suits is  quite  considerable  in  the  South,  but  fades 
away  to  the  vanishing  point  as  we  proceed  toward 
the  North.  Even  in  the  South,  the  Negro  mechanic 
is  fast  giving  way  to  conquering  European  workmen. 
If  we  may  read  the  shadow  which  coming  events 
cast  before  them,  it  seems  clear  that  within  half  a 
century  Negro  workmen  along  lines  of  higher  me- 
chanical skill  will  be  as  rare  in  Atlanta  and  Rich- 
mond as  they  are  in  Boston  and  Philadelphia. 

The  Negro  has  hardly  as  yet  entered  upon  such 
pursuits  as  merchant,  dealer,  and  peddler,  which  per- 
haps are  the  chief  business  of  the  city.  Indications, 
however,  are  not  wanting  that  the  future  will  show 
greater  activity  in  this  direction. 

Teachers,  preachers,  doctors,  and  lawyers  enjoy 
a  larger  income  than  any  other  class  of  colored  wage- 
earners.  Although  they  constitute  an  insignificant 
fraction  of  the  population,  nevertheless,  it  is  a  sig- 
nally potential  one.  There  is  almost  total  absence  of 
the  merchant,  the  manufacturer,  and  the  non-profes- 
sional man  of  practical  affairs,  who  constitute  the 
ruling  power  among  the  whites.  This  gives  the  pro- 
fessional class  a  unique  position  and  influence  in 
Negro  society. 

The  Negro  death  rate  is  unmistakably  higher  than 
that  of  the  whites ;  quite  enough  so  to  give  rise  to 
most  serious  and  searching  inquiry  as  to  causes  and 
remedies.  New  Orleans,  Charleston,  Savannah,  and 
Richmond  show  the  highest  death  rates  for  both 
races,  which  is  due,  we  might  infer,  to  the  insani- 
tary situation  of  these  cities.  In  such  Northern  cities 
as  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and  Boston  the 
Negro  death  rate  is  not  perceptibly  higher  than  in 
the  large  centers  of  the  South.  It  is  known,  how- 
ever, that  the  colored  population  of  these  cities  is 


126  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

made  up  largely  of  young  adults  who  are  not  subject 
to  high  death  rate. 

Before  we  become  too  much  alarmed  as  to  this  high 
mortality  for  the  Negro,  let  us  consider  several  ex- 
planatory factors.  It  is  known  that  the  environment 
of  the  city  Negro  is  most  miserable.  He  lives  in 
large  numbers  in  byways  and  alleys  that  are  not  fit 
for  human  occupation.  In  spite  of  all  that  can  be 
said  of  the  one-room  cabin  in  the  South,  it  possesses 
one  virtue  which  the  city  tenement  sadly  misses,  and 
that  is  ample  ventilation.  There  is  not  a  cabin  in 
the  State  of  Virginia  that  is  so  unfit  for  human  habi- 
tation as  are  scores  of  blocks  of  alley  houses  in  Wash- 
ington City.  Dr.  John  S.  Billings  tells  us  that 
".  .  .  if  we  could  separate  the  vital  statistics  of 
the  poor  and  ignorant  whites,  the  tenement-house 
population  of  our  Northern  cities,  from  those  of  the 
mass  of  the  white  population,  we  should  undoubtedly 
find  a  high  rate  of  mortality  in  this  class."  The 
physical  and  social  environment  of  the  city  Negro 
constitutes  one  of  the  causes  of  his  high  mortality. 

The  death  rate,  on  the  whole,  shows  a  tendency  to 
decrease.  But  because  of  the  limited  data  and  the 
fluctuating  conditions,  little  reliance  can  be  placed 
upon  this  indication.  It  is  known  that  the  popula- 
tion of  these  cities  has  received  an  enormous  rein- 
forcement of  Negro  adults  whose  presence  would  of 
course  lower  the  general  mortality  rate.  The  excess 
of  the  colored  death  rate  over  that  of  the  whites  is 
due  mainly  to  the  great  preponderance  of  infant 
mortality. 

This  is  the  outcome  of  carelessness,  ignorance,  and 
neglect  on  the  part  of  Negro  mothers.  As  an  indi- 
cation of  what  proper  sanitary  treatment  will  do  to 
lower  the  rate  of  infant  mortality,  the  record  of  the 
Board  of  Children's  Guardians  of  Washington,  D.  C, 


THE    CITY    NEGRO  127 

may  be  cited.  The  infants  that  come  to  them  are 
mainly  abandoned  waifs,  and  therefore  the  most  un- 
promising of  any  possible  class  of  children.  These 
infants  are  placed  in  homes  and  subjected  to  a  sani- 
tary and  dietary  regime  under  direction  of  the  board, 
and  the  result  is  that  the  death  rate  among  them  is 
perhaps  not  half  as  great  as  among  the  correspond- 
ing class  of  the  population  at  large. 

The  Negro  is  especially  prone  to  diseases  of  a 
pulmonary  character.  This  conclusion  does  not  ad- 
mit of  the  least  doubt. 

While  the  general  death  rate  for  Negroes  is  much 
higher  than  for  the  whites,  the  mortality  due  to  pul- 
monary affections  shows  the  widest  discrepancy. 
This  dread  enemy  of  the  human  race  seizes  upon  the 
Negro  as  its  favorite  victim.  It  seems  to  be  as  preva- 
lent in  the  most  Southern  cities  as  in  higher  latitudes. 
Charleston  and  Savannah  are  no  better  off  in  this 
regard  than  Chicago  and  Boston.  Where  is  to 
be  found  deliverance  from  the  effects  of  this 
scourge  ? 

The  difference  between  Negro  and  white  mortality 
in  the  country  at  large  is  a  matter  of  great  perti- 
nence to  this  inquiry.  While  this  matter  fyas  not 
been  studied  for  the  entire  country,  yet  the  indica- 
tion is  unmistakable  that  the  country  Negro  is  more 
vigorous  and  healthy  than  his  city  brother. 

A  careful  study  of  census  data  gives  rise  to  certain 
clear  conclusions:  (1)  The  Negro  death  rate  is 
nearly  double  that  of  the  whites  in  all  of  our  large 
cities ;  (2)  this  rate  is  due  mainly  to  excess  of  infant 
mortality;  (3)  consumption  and  allied  pulmonary 
complaints  carry  off  proportionately  about  three 
Negroes  to  one  white  person ;  (4)  Negro  death  rate 
seems  to  be  slightly  decreasing,  and  (5)  the  mor- 
tality of  the  city  Negro  is  almost  double  that  of  his 


128  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

country  brother,  which  is  not  much  in  excess  of  the 
rate  for  the  white  race  in  rural  districts. 

The  movement  toward  the  cities  should  be  checked ; 
a  higher  sense  of  parental  duty  should  be  inculcated ; 
simple  sanitary  and  health  instruction  should  be  given 
to  the  people,  and  municipalities  should  be  prevailed 
upon  to  maintain  better  sanitary  regulations  in  the 
alleys  and  shade-places  where  the  Negroes  are  forced 
to  live. 

"  The  education  of  the  Negro  "  has  become  a  cant 
phrase  whose  sing-song  sound  is  constantly  dinged  in 
our  ears.  By  the  frequency  of  its  repetition  we  are 
led  to  believe  that  it  stands  for  a  fixed  and  definite 
quantity  in  the  educational  equation.  The  Negro 
race  is  ever  referred  to  as  a  unit,  and  its  circum- 
stances and  conditions  as  requiring  a  unitary  mode 
of  treatment.  Our  educational  philosophers  seem  to 
think  that  the  whole  race  stands  in  need  of  a  single 
programme  of  instruction.  They  make  no  allowance 
for  discreet  differentiation. 

The  educational  needs  and  circumstances  of  the 
city  Negro  must  be  carefully  differentiated  from 
those  of  the  rustic  masses.  The  general  economic 
conditions  are  so  different  from  those  of  the  rural 
districts  and  the  educational  provisions  are  so  glar- 
ingly disproportional  that  we  must  separate  the  two 
in  any  scheme  of  profitable  discussion.  In  the  cities 
the  funds  are  quite  sufficient  to  maintain  the  schools 
for  the  average  length  of  terms,  and  to  provide  the 
requisite  appliances  and  facilities  of  instruction.  The 
duplication  of  schools  for  the  two  races  works  to 
much  less  economic  disadvantage  in  the  cities,  where 
the  numbers  of  both  races  are  sufficient  to  supply 
adequate  school  constituencies,  than  in  the  country, 
where  the  population  is  sparse  and  far  between.    The 


THE    CITY    NEGRO  129 

education  of  the  city  Negro  makes  no  claim  on  out- 
side philanthropy.  The  cities  are  able  to  educate 
their  own  children  and  do  not  stand  in  need  of  phil- 
anthropic aid.  There  is  no  more  reason  for  Balti- 
more, Richmond,  New  Orleans,  and  Atlanta  to  seek 
outside  aid  to  educate  their  children  than  that  they 
should  appeal  for  like  support  for  their  police  de- 
partments. 

The  teachers  in  city  schools  for  colored  children 
are  generally  of  the  colored  race,  Baltimore  and 
Charleston  forming  notable  exceptions.  In  Charles- 
ton all  but  two,  and  in  Baltimore  many  of  them,  are 
of  the  white  race.  The  Negro  teachers  compare 
quite  favorably  with  their  white  colaborers,  and 
Southern  superintendents  are  not  sparing  in  accord- 
ing them  the  measure  of  commendation  and  encour- 
agement which  is  their  just  due. 

The  status  of  the  city  Negro  seems  to  furnish  a 
contradiction  of  the  prevalent  belief  that  education 
will  solve  the  race  problems.  Experience  seems  to 
show  that  the  problems  grow  in  difficulty  as  general 
intelligence  increases.  This  is  no  discredit  to  educa- 
tion or  a  derogation  of  its  function.  It  simply 
shows  that  the  case  was  wrongly  diagnosed  in  the 
first  instance.  In  the  city  of  Washington,  and  in  a 
corresponding  degree  the  same  may  be  said  of  other 
cities,  the  educational  facilities  for  colored  children 
are  practically  as  good  as  any  offered  the  most  fa- 
vored class  of  children  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  These  schools  have  been  crowded  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  and  have  now  more  than  fifteen 
thousand  in  attendance,  a  higher  average  than  pre- 
vails in  white  schools.  And  yet  the  race  problem  at 
the  national  Capital  is  not  solved.  It  is  a  mild  criti- 
cism of  Negro  education  to  say  that  it  has  not  had 
satisfactory  reaction  upon  the  mass  life  of  the  race. 


130  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

It  is  on  this  account  that  there  has  recently  sprung 
up  such  a  widespread  movement  to  modify  the  plan 
and  policy  of  Negro  education  so  as  to  bring  it  into 
closer  relation  with  the  actual  life  of  the  people  for 
whom  it  is  designed.  In  rural  districts  the  pressing 
problem  is  better  schools  and  more  of  them,  but  in 
the  cities  the  question  is  one  of  readjustment  and  wise 
adaptation. 

The  perfection  of  the  city  schools  is  of  the  high- 
est importance  to  the  race  at  large,  for  it  is  in  the 
urban  centers  that  the  torch  must  be  lighted  and 
passed  on  to  the  remotest  rural  ramifications. 

If  our  great  cities  were  not  constantly  supplied 
with  fresh  life  and  vigor  from  the  country  they 
would  soon  wither  up  for  lack  of  self-sustaining  vi- 
tality. The  tree  is  cut  from  the  mountain  side  and 
shaped  and  fashioned  into  instruments  of  use  and 
ornamentation,  but  the  supply  can  be  sustained  only 
by  fresh  growth  on  the  original  heath.  The  city 
constantly  draws  in  fresh  supplies  of  physical,  intel- 
lectual, and  moral  energy  only  to  develop,  exploit, 
and  exhaust  it.  The  great  drawback  to  the  Negro 
element  is  that  it  is  exhausted,  without  being  either 
developed  or  utilized. 

Mr.  George  W.  Cable  in  a  recent  contribution  has 
emphasized  the  importance  of  what  he  calls  the  "  citi- 
fication  "  of  the  Negro.  The  value  of  this  sagacious 
suggestion  must  be  accepted  with  a  word  of  cau- 
tion. The  cities  are  indeed  the  centers  of  light,  the 
storehouses  of  advantage  and  opportunity.  Without 
the  opportunity  of  urban  contact  it  is  hardly  pos- 
sible for  one  either  to  develop  or  exploit  his  better 
faculties.  The  great  men  of  America  were,  as  a  rule, 
born  in  the  country,  but  nurtured  in  the  city.  With 
the  Negro,  however,  the  situation  is  not  so  simple. 
He  shares  the  disadvantages  without  the  benefits.  He 


THE    CITY    NEGRO  131 

does  not  enter  into  the  larger  opportunities  of  urban 
life.  There  is  a  certain  advantage  of  education  and 
contact,  but  his  culture  is  apt  to  assume  a  pale  and 
sickly  cast  for  lack  of  the  sunlight  of  opportunity. 
The  city  Negro  grows  up  in  the  shade.  He  is  com- 
pletely overshadowed  by  his  overtowering  environ- 
ment. As  one  walks  along  the  streets  of  our  great 
cities  and  views  the  massive  buildings  and  sky-seeking 
structures,  he  finds  no  status  for  the  Negro  above  the 
cellar  floor.  There  is  perhaps  no  place  on  earth 
where  so  much  culture  runs  to  seed,  and  so  much 
intelligence  goes  to  waste,  as  among  the  Negro  ele- 
ment of  our  large  cities.  The  younger  element  of 
the  race  at  least  is  practically  as  well  educated  as 
the  whites.  And  yet  they  count  for  almost  nothing 
in  the  higher  business  and  industrial  life  of  the  com- 
munity. It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  inquire  into  the 
cause  of  this  condition  of  things  or  to  apportion 
responsibility.  The  fact  cannot  be  disputed.  So 
far  only  the  more  fortunate  class  of  city  Negroes  has 
been  considered.  But  there  are  those  who  are  com- 
pletely crushed  by  the  weight  of  superimposed  con- 
ditions and  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the  social  scale. 
These  constitute  the  slum  element,  and  furnish  the 
hospital  and  the  jail  constituency.  Let  us,  however, 
be  careful  to  avoid  extremes.  Large  numbers  of  city 
Negroes  are  sober,  industrious,  church-going,  law- 
abiding  citizens.  There  are  also  exceptional  individ- 
uals who  are  able  to  breast  the  blows  of  hard  cir- 
cumstances and  have  their  merit  recognized  and  re- 
warded. But  the  picture  in  its  characteristic  features 
is  not  too  gloomily  drawn.  The  "  citification  "  of 
the  country  Negro  as  a  means  of  solving  the  race 
problem  should  be  accepted,  if  not  with  the  tradi- 
tional grain  of  salt,  at  least  with  prudent  hesitation. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  country  Negro  has  very 


132  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

little  opportunity  for  getting  hold  of  the  machinery 
of  civilization.  The  discipline  of  the  plantation  sys- 
tem has  been  destroyed.  Every  well-ordered  planta- 
tion was  a  school  in  which  were  taught  the  crude 
elements  of  civilization.  Industry,  order,  and  obedi- 
ence are  the  cardinal  virtues  of  the  industrial  world. 
The  slave  regime  was  based  upon  false  notions  of 
political  economy  and  therefore  encouraged  only  the 
mechanical  or  marketable  virtues  in  the  slave,  and 
suppressed  all  higher  outcroppings  of  intelligence 
and  personal  dignity.  A  black  man  was  looked  upon 
as  a  machine  and  not  as  a  being  in  whom  the  image 
of  God  could  be  made  manifest.  And  so  the  school 
of  slavery  appealed  merely  to  the  physical  side,  and 
left  the  higher  faculties  untouched,  or,  worse  still, 
smothered  and  suppressed.  As  the  whites  are  with- 
drawing to  the  cities  the  Negroes  are  gaining  in 
density  in  the  purely  rural  sections  of  the  South, 
and  the  opportunities  for  improvement  in  manners 
and  methods  of  life  are  meager  enough.  The  public 
schools  hold  for  only  a  few  months,  and  with  the 
most  poorly  equipped  teachers  and  facilities.  The 
knowledge  thus  gained  is  mostly  of  the  mechanical 
sort  and  has  very  little  potential  value.  The  number 
of  Negroes  who  can  read  and  write  runs  up  into  the 
millions.  But  the  number  who  do  read  and  write  and 
who  use  these  accomplishments  as  a  means  of  con- 
ducting the  ordinary  processes  of  life  and  of  ac- 
quiring a  larger  hold  on  civilization  would  probably 
not  amount  to  ten  per  cent,  of  the  number  who  are 
reckoned  as  literate.  We  must  make  an  immense  dis- 
tinction between  the  technical  and  the  practical  illit- 
eracy of  the  Negro  race.  The  country  schools  in  the 
South  cannot  qualify  their  own  teachers.  The  rural 
Negro  if  left  to  himself  would  be  in  a  most  pitiable 
plight.     He  needs  the  sympathy  and  help  of  his  more 


THE    CITY    NEGRO  133 

fortunate  city  brother.  As  the  city  has  need  of  the 
country  for  new  life  and  fresh  physical,  moral  stam- 
ina, just  so  the  country  must  draw  upon  the  city  for 
intelligence,  system,  and  civilized  method. 

The  country  Negro,  however,  has  certain  advan- 
tages ;  he  is  on  terms  of  equality  with  his  environ- 
ment. He  is  not  confronted  by  suggestions  of  in- 
equality at  every  turn.  Nature  is  a  mother  who  is 
equally  kind  and  beneficent  to  all  of  her  children. 
An  acre  of  ground  will  yield  as  much  for  the  black 
as  for  the  white  tiller.  The  markets  are  color-blind. 
No  one  inquires  into  the  color  of  the  producer  of 
the  best  produce  in  the  market  except  as  a  matter 
of  idle  curiosity.  No  labor  organization  has  yet 
placed  a  boycott  upon  Negro  farm  labor.  The  farm 
offers  for  the  Negro  the  only  really  unhampered 
field  which  is  open  to  him  on  an  unlimited  scale.  The 
city  Negro  of  education  and  culture,  on  the  contrary, 
is  forced  into  menial  employment,  because  higher 
forms  of  occupation  are  pre-empted  by  the  more 
favored  class.  There  are  plenty  of  Negro  domestics 
who  have  sufficient  educational  advantages  to  conduct 
independent  undertakings.  But  they  find  the  ave- 
nues so  crowded,  and  the  competition  so  fierce,  that 
the  balance  of  success  is  on  the  side  of  the  white 
competitor.  The  best  brain  and  energy  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  are  engaged  in  the  city  industries.  There 
are  a  dozen  competitors  for  every  dollar  in  sight. 
In  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  Negro  is  handi- 
capped by  his  color.  In  those  branches  of  business 
involving  the  social  feature,  as  most  branches  do,  he 
is  placed  at  a  serious  disadvantage.  His  own  race 
has  not  yet  been  educated  up  to  the  necessity  of 
patronizing  him,  as  a  sort  of  race  protective  tariff. 
The  white  merchant  affords  the  black  customer  every 
facility  for  spending  a  dollar.     His  courtesy  is  as 


134  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

expansive  as  the  Negro's  pocketbook.  But  this  cour- 
tesy turns  into  coldness  and  scorn  when  the  Negro 
asks  the  merchant  to  give  his  son  or  daughter  a  place 
in  his  store  so  that  he  may  accumulate  business 
knowledge  and  experience.  In  communities  where 
the  Negro  constitutes  a  half,  a  third,  or  a  fourth  of 
the  population,  and  where  his  educational  facilities 
are  practically  as  good  as  those  of  the  whites,  we 
find  that  he  does  not  conduct  one  per  cent,  of  the 
business.  This  accumulated  intelligence  should  seek 
an  outlet.  This  can  be  found  in  the  country.  It 
requires  as  great  intelligence,  thrift,  and  patience  to 
make  a  farm  productive  as  to  succed  in  a  city 
enterprise. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  the  city  environment  too 
often  develops  in  the  colored  boy  or  girl  a  love  for 
leisure  and  ease  and  a  positive  disinclination  for 
downright  hard  work.  They  prefer  to  affect  the 
fine  manners  and  fine  attire  of  the  ultra-fashionable 
of  the  white  race,  and  are  strenuously  opposed  to 
"  hanging  up  the  fiddle  and  the  bow  and  taking  up 
the  shovel  and  the  hoe."  Indeed,  this  is  one  of  the 
dangers  of  superimposing  the  superficialities  of  civil- 
ization upon  a  backward  race.  It  indisposes  them 
to  hard  work.  The  Puritans  gained  the  discipline  of 
work  by  trying  to  persuade  the  rocky  hillsides  of 
New  England  to  yield  up  a  living.  This  has  become 
a  fixed  trait  of  character  and  is  handed  down  by 
heredity.  It  is  this  predisposition  to  work  which 
makes  the  Yankee  so  great  a  force  in  the  world. 
The  work  which  devolves  upon  the  city  Negro  is  of 
an  intermittent  character,  and  lacks  the  discipline 
of  steadiness  and  consecutive  endeavor. 


RELIGION  AS   A  SOLVENT   OF   THE   RACE 
PROBLEM 

Religion  may  be  treated  as  a  sociological  phenom- 
enon whose  manifestation  is  as  evident  and  whose 
effect  is  as  easily  measured  as  any  other  data  with 
which  the  student  of  social  subjects  has  to  deal. 
The  influence  of  the  church  upon  the  Negro  is  just  as 
evident  as  that  of  the  school.  In  current  discussion 
of  the  race  problem  this  potent  and  pervasive  factor 
is  all  but  wholly  ignored.  The  proclaimed  purpose 
of  Christianity  is  to  establish  peace  and  good  will 
among  all  the  children  of  men.  Before  discussing 
the  bearing  of  Christianity  upon  the  Negro  let  us  see 
to  what  extent  he  is  susceptible  to  its  influence. 

The  Negro  as  we  know  him  in  America  is  of  a 
deeply  religious  nature.  He  is  widely  noted  for  his 
emotional  and  spiritual  susceptibilities.  His  weird, 
plaintive,  melodious  longings  are  fraught  with  spir- 
itual substances  and  meaning,  not  unlike  the  lamen- 
tations of  the  Jews  in  captivity ;  only  the  Negro  does 
not  yearn  for  an  earthly  restoration,  but  for  the 
Promised  Land  beyond  the  skies.  These  plantation 
melodies,  this  blind,  half-conscious  poetry,  breaking 
through  the  aperture  of  sound  before  the  intellect 
had  formulated  a  definite  form  of  statement,  reveal 
the  Negro's  passive  Christian  virtues  of  meekness, 
humility,  and  lowliness  of  spirit,  and  express  the  spir- 
itual strivings  of  his  race. 

The  conversion  of  the  Negro  to  the  Christian  faith 
is  as  marvelous,  and  perhaps  as  momentous,  as  any 
event  in  the  history  of  the  church.     There  were  no 

135 


136  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

religious  orders  devoted  to  his  evangelization,  no 
zealous  missionary  propagandism,  no  concerted  move- 
ment on  the  part  of  his  captors  to  convert  the  black 
heathen  whom  the  lust  for  lucre  had  brought  within 
their  gates.  Here  and  there  a  kindly  mistress  or 
pious  planter  might  have  been  moved  by  pangs  of 
pity  to  free  the  soul  of  the  black  bondman  from  the 
shackles  of  sin,  if  only  the  body  might  remain  in 
subjection  to  the  galling  gyves  of  an  iniquitous  sys- 
tem. "  Servants,  obey  your  masters,"  was  the  only 
Scripture  text  which  it  was  deemed  prudent  to  ex- 
plain in  the  depth  and  plenitude  of  its  meaning. 
While  sitting  in  the  back  pews  and  upper  galleries 
the  Negro  caught  the  suggestion  of  the  Christian 
cult,  which  was  so  peculiarly  adapted  to  his  ethnic 
characteristics  that  it  met  with  an  enthusiastic  and 
ready  response.  To  a  race  thus  spiritually  predis- 
posed, the  lines  of  the  hymnist  convey  a  special 
meaning : 

"  This  is  the  way  I  long  have  sought 
And  mourned  because  I   found  it  not." 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  race,  however  great  its 
superiority,  can  impose  its  intellectual,  aesthetic,  or 
religious  cult  upon  another,  either  by  persuasion  or 
force,  unless  the  recipient  race  is  ready  to  adopt  the 
suggestion  and  interpret  it  in  terms  of  its  own  ethnic 
aptitude.  Culture  is  a  centrifugal  as  well  as  a  cen- 
tripetal process.  The  inner  spring  of  motive  and  ac- 
tion must  vibrate  in  sympathetic  resonance  with  the 
waves  of  influence  which  proceed  from  without,  be- 
fore they  can  be  awakened  into  life  and  power.  Man- 
kind had  been  observing  the  phenomenon  of  falling 
apples  pattering  upon  the  ground  ever  since  the  ser- 
pent beguiled  the  first  pair;  but  it  was  reserved  for 
Sir   Isaac  Newton,   of  keen    alert   suggestive  mind, 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  137 

to  utilize  this  familiar  occurrence  as  a  key  to 
unlock  the  hidden  mysteries  of  the  universe.  This 
new  cult  of  grace  was  seized  upon  by  the  Negro 
with  Pentecostal  enthusiasm  and  fervor,  because  it 
relieved  his  overburdened  soul  and  satisfied  his  long- 
ings as  nothing  else  could  do. 

The  evangelization  of  the  transplanted  African  is 
the  only  assured  fresh  conquest  of  Christianity  in 
modern  times,  if,  indeed,  it  is  not  the  only  undisputed 
triumph  of  this  faith  outside  of  the  range  of  the 
Caucasian.  For  four  centuries  a  continuous  stream 
of  missionary  influence  has  been  steadily  playing 
upon  the  American  Indian ;  and  yet,  to-day,  the  red 
aborigine  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  any  nearer  evan- 
gelization than  when  Columbus  first  planted  his  Cath- 
olic cross  in  the  virgin  soil  of  a  New  World.  The 
rise  of  the  missionary  spirit  is  the  most  unselfish  and 
creditable  movement  of  modern  times ;  but  the  con- 
version of  the  world  to  the  standard  of  the  Cross  is 
discernible  only  to  the  eye  of  faith,  which  realizes 
the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of 
things  not  seen.  On  the  other  hand,  the  conversion 
of  the  Negro  is  an  established  fact.  The  sanction  of 
his  religion  is  as  prevalent  and  as  potent  as  in  the 
case  of  his  white  neighbor  from  whom  it  was  derived. 
In  the  United  States  the  Negro  has  a  higher  aver- 
age of  church  membership  than  the  whites,  and  con- 
stitutes one-fifth  of  the  numerical  strength  of  all 
the  Protestant  denominations.  This  race  has  a  suf- 
ficient grasp  upon  the  spirit,  meaning,  and  method 
of  Christianity  to  propagate  and  transmit  it,  al- 
though perhaps  not  yet  able  to  formulate  a  theolog- 
ical statement  of  its  doctrine.  The  highest  evidence 
of  ignition  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that  the  lighted 
torch  has  become  a  new  center  of  diffusion,  giving 
light  unto  all  who  come  within  the  range  of  its  radi- 


138  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

ant  influence.  Several  independent  Negro  denomina- 
tions in  America  are  supporting  foreign  missions  in 
the  darker  continent  of  Africa,  conducted  by  their 
own  men  and  means.  Where  else  has  Christianity 
made  such  manifestation  of  its  power  since  the  rise 
of  the  Protestant  sect? 

But  we  are  accustomed  to  the  reproach  that  the 
Negro's  religious  profession  has  little  beneficial  influ- 
ence upon  his  practical  life.  It  is  unfortunately  true 
that  there  is  a  wide  discrepancy  between  creed  and 
conduct.  This  discrepancy  is,  of  course,  intensified 
by  ignorance  and  grossness  of  life.  At  best,  the 
heavenly  treasure  is  placed  in  earthen  vessels.  He  is 
indeed  a  poor  judge  of  human  nature  who  expects 
to  find,  in  any  people,  an  exact  adjustment  between 
practical  conduct  and  religious  standard.  When  we 
consider  the  broad  function  of  the  Negro  church,  and 
the  original  grossness  and  degradation  with  which 
it  has  had  to  deal,  it  will  be  seen  that,  although 
religion  has  not  yet  done  its  perfect  work,  the  whole- 
someness  of  its  influence  has  been  not  only  manifest, 
but  marvelous.  Imagine  the  moral  status  of  this 
people  if  the  religious  influence  had  been  withdrawn ! 
Who  is  he  that  condemneth?  The  practical  conduct 
of  the  white  Christian  furnishes  the  roughest  approx- 
imation to  the  standards  of  his  faith.  The  keynote 
and  kelson  of  Christianity  is  love  for  God  and  man. 
When  the  white  Christian  violates  the  vital  precepts 
of  his  faith,  in  his  treatment  of  the  Negro,  he  fur- 
nishes an  example  and  an  excuse  for  his  weaker 
brother  to  transgress,  though  it  may  be  in  a  more 
flagrant  manner. 

The  most  notable  feature  of  Negro  church  life 
is  its  tendency  toward  ecclesiastical  independence. 
After  receiving  the  original  suggestion  from  the 
white  race,  the  Negro  evinced  a  decided  inclination  to 


■£AUfo. 

RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  139 

worship  God  under  his  own  vine  and  fig  tree.  The 
Baptist  and  Methodist  denominations,  representing 
the  independent  spirit,  contain  98  per  cent,  of  all 
colored  Protestant  communicants.  The  Presbyterian, 
Episcopalian,  and  Congregational  churches,  which 
have  enjoyed  the  largest  measure  of  white  assistance, 
contact,  and  control,  have  flourished,  at  the  expense 
of  much  watering,  only  as  a  root  out  of  dry  ground. 
Although  these  churches  appeal  generally  to  the  more 
cultivated  classes,  yet  their  numerical  feebleness  is  in 
no  wise  offset  by  any  superior  vigor  of  spiritual  ag- 
gressiveness or  force.  Even  in  these  denominations 
there  is  an  ambition,  expressed  or  suppressed,  for  a 
larger  measure  of  ecclesiastical  self-control.  Presby- 
terian and  Congregational  missionary  societies  have 
spent  many  millions  of  dollars  among  the  freedmen 
of  the  South,  but  the  result  is  seen  rather  in  the 
intellectual  and  moral  uplift  than  in  religious  prose- 
lytism.  The  real  religious  advantage  consists  largely 
in  reflex  influence  upon  the  Methodist  and  Baptist 
denominations.  These  churches  have  flourished  be- 
cause of  their  ecclesiastical  .independence,  and  not  on 
account  of  any  theological  tenets  or  administrative 
polity. 

It  is  almost  as  rare  to  find  a  white  pastor  of  a 
colored  congregation  as  to  come  across  the  reverse 
relationship.  We  see  the  same  tendency  in  the  North- 
ern States.  Wherever  two  or  three  dozen  colored 
people  are  gathered  together,  there  will  be  found  a 
Negro  church,  of  an  independent  type,  springing  up 
in  the  midst  of  them.  No  people  take  a  greater  pride 
in  their  churches  or  give  so  large  a  share  of  their 
means  to  support  them.  The  church  is  not  merely  a 
religious  institution,  but  embraces  all  the  complex 
functions  of  Negro  life.  It  furnishes  the  broadest 
field  for  the  exercise  of  talent,  and  is  the  only  sphere 


140  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

in  which  the  Negro  has  shown  initiative  and  executive 
ability.  Frederick  Douglass  began  his  public  life  as 
a  local  preacher  in  the  A.  M.  E.  Church,  and  if  a 
wider  career  had  not  providentially  opened  up  to 
him  he  doubtless  would  have  risen  to  a  position  of 
ecclesiastic  dignity  and  power. 

In  politics,  education,  and  business  the  white  man 
manages  and  controls  the  Negro's  interests ;  it  is 
only  in  the  church  that  the  field  is  undisputed.  Upon 
the  failure  of  the  reconstruction  governments  the 
Negro  politicians  sought  careers  in  the  church  as  the 
most  inviting  field  for  the  exploitation  of  their 
powers.  The  Negro  preacher  is  a  potential  politi- 
cian, whose  natural  qualities  of  organization  and 
leadership  being  denied  scope  and  exercise  in  the 
domain  of  secular  activity,  seek  them  in  the  religious 
realm.  When  the  Negro  preacher  makes  occasional 
excursions  into  the  political  field  we  are  apt  to  con- 
demn his  conduct  as  irrelevant  to  his  calling,  but  he  is 
merely  giving  vent  to  pent-up  powers  on  the  slight- 
est show  of  opportunity  or  pretext  of  duty. 

The  Negro  ministry  is  often  upbraided  for  its  de- 
linquencies and  shortcomings.  But  when  we  consider 
all  of  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  there  is  no  more 
remarkable  body  of  men  in  America  than  these  black 
preachers  who  guide  the  people  in  the  ways  of  truth 
and  righteousness.  There  is  a  professional  body  of 
men,  some  twenty-five  thousand  strong,  who,  like 
Melchizedek  of  old,  sprang  into  existence  without 
announcement  or  preparation.  They  show  unmistak- 
able ability  for  leadership  and  guidance.  The  priest- 
hood has  always  been  upbraided  for  its  carnal  imper- 
fections, notwithstanding  the  high  and  sacred  char- 
acter of  its  function.  The  Negro  ministry  does  not 
escape  blame  and  censure ;  but  no  one  can  say  that 
the  moral  and  spiritual  trend  of  its  leading  has  not 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  141 

been  upward.  Under  the  influence  of  education  and 
orderly  training  this  ministry  is  rapidly  attaining  to 
a  higher  and  higher  degree  of  orderliness  and  spirit- 
ual decorum.  There  are  increasing  thousands  of 
Negro  churches  where  no  breath  of  suspicion  attaches 
to  the  clerical  reputation,  and  where  the  services  are 
conducted  with  intelligence,  simplicity,  and  in  the 
beauty  of  holiness. 

The  Negro  church  has  stood,  and  still  in  large 
measure  stands,  for  the  home,  the  school,  and  the 
State.  It  has  been  and  is  the  greatest  enlightening, 
uplifting,  purifying,  and  inspiring  influence  which 
actuates  the  life  of  the  benighted  masses. 

It  was  the  consolation  of  religion  that  solaced  and 
sustained  the  Negro  slave  under  burdens  as  heavy  as 
any  that  the  human  race  has  ever  been  called  upon 
to  bear.  It  was  the  manifestation  of  the  religious 
spirit  that  gained  for  him  the  confidence  and  sym- 
pathy even  of  his  oppressors,  and  played  no  small 
part  in  effecting  his  emancipation.  If  the  Negro 
had  remained  a  heathen,  and  had  adhered  to  the 
repugnant  religious  rites  of  his  ancestors,  can  any 
one  believe  that  the  Christian  sentiment  of  this 
nation  would  have  exerted  itself  so  strongly  in  his 
behalf?  Would  a  race  of  heathens  have  ever  been 
incorporated  into  the  body  politic  of  this  nation? 

It  is  probably  true  that  the  educated  Negro  is  not 
so  deeply  interested  in  religion  as  were  his  ignorant 
forebears.  This  is  due  in  large  part  to  the  revolt  of 
culture  against  the  grotesque  excesses  of  ignorance, 
partly  to  the  cold,  critical,  intellectual  indifferentism 
of  the  times,  and  in  large  measure  to  the  haughty 
attitude  of  the  white  Christian  whose  spiritual  arro- 
gance causes  his  black  brother  to  offend.  But  there 
still  abides  that  deep  subconscious  religious  feeling 
which  a  larger  enlightenment  and  the  sobering  influ- 


i! 


142  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

ence  of  adversity  will  again  waken  into  life  and 
power. 

Stern  moral  qualities  are  necessary  to  save  a  back- 
ward race,  in  contact  with  civilization,  from  physical 
destruction.  Such  races  usually  fade  before  the 
breath  of  civilization,  as  a  flower  is  withered  by  the 
chilling  blast  of  autumn.  The  Indian  is  gone,  the 
Australian  has  followed  him,  the  scattered  fragments 
of  the  isles  of  the  sea  are  rapidly  passing  away. 
These  people  have  not  perished  so  much  by  force  and 
violence  as  through  the  disintegrating  influence  in- 
herent in  the  vices  of  civilization.  The  backward 
races  cannot  stand  the  vices  of  the  Aryan ;  what 
makes  the  one  drunk,  but  makes  the  other  bold.  Vice 
is  destruction ;  virtue  is  preservative.  The  thief,  the 
robber,  the  murderer,  the  drunkard,  the  adulterer, 
and,  not  less,  those  who  indulge  in  the  more  refined 
and  recondite  modes  of  sin,  are  destructive  of  the 
stability  of  social  order.  The  criminal  and  moral 
status  of  the  Negro  race  is  threatening  its  physical 
continuance.  After  we  have  made  all  possible  allow- 
ance for  historic  causes  and  plead  all  possible  excul- 
patory excuses,  the  plain,  unpleasant,  unvarnished 
fact  remains :  The  American  Negro  must  conquer 
his  vices  or  be  destroyed  by  them. 

It  is  true  that  perhaps  ninety-five  per  cent,  of 
the  colored  people  are  orderly  and  well-behaved ;  but 
this  is  not  sufficient,  any  more  than  it  would  be  satis- 
factory for  a  fruiterer  to  assure  us  that  ninety-five 
per  cent,  of  the  apples  in  a  barrel  are  sound.  It  is 
also  true  that  the  Negro  has  no  monopoly  of  sin. 
There  is  no  caste  in  crime  which  is  a  failing  of  weak 
human  nature ;  and  yet  the  criminal  is  a  special  bane 
and  burden  to  the  people  to  whom  his  base  blood 
binds  him.  One  might  argue  the  failure  of  the  sort 
of  Christianity  to  which  the  Negro  has  been  sub- 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  143 

jected,  because  it  has  not  banished  sin  and  ushered 
in  the  era  of  righteousness.  This  religion  has  been 
in  the  world  for  two  thousand  years,  and  yet  his- 
tory fails  to  tell  us  of  a  single  people  from  whom 
it  has  removed  the  earth-stains  of  wickedness  and  sin. 
In  portions  of  Asia  and  Africa  where  this  gospel  once 
held  sway  the  surviving  influence  is  so  faint  as  to  be 
scarcely  perceptible.  Parts  of  Europe  after  many 
centuries  of  Christian  endeavor  are  sunken  in  the 
depths  of  vileness  and  iniquity.  Many  of  the  cities 
of  our  own  country  that  are  covered  with  a  forest  of 
church  towers  are,  if  we  believe  reports  and  rumors 
of  corruption,  as  rotten  as  Nineveh  and  Tyre.  Do 
we  say  in  such  cases  that  religion  is  a  failure,  and 
that  the  people  are  incapable  of  understanding  and 
applying  the  principles  of  Christianity?  The  Negro 
needs,  what  all  mankind  needs,  a  higher,  purer,  and 
more  effective  application  of  his  professed  religion 
to  the  daily  affairs  of  life. 

Religion  constitutes  the  only  effective  sanction  the 
world  has  yet  devised  over  the  conduct  of  the  igno- 
rant and  unawakened  masses.  No  enlightened  ruler 
of  backward  races,  from  Marcus  Aurelius  to  Edward 
VII,  has  ever  failed  to  utilize  religious  adherence  as 
an  aid  to  wise  and  salutary  control.  This  conduct 
does  not  always  spring  from  high  spiritual  motive, 
but  is  resorted  to  as  a  matter  of  administrative  pru- 
dence. The  sneer  of  the  poet  Goethe  contains  a 
valuable  half-truth : 

"  Whoso  has  art  and  science  found,  religion  too  has  he ; 
Who  has  nor  art  nor  science  found,  religion  his  should  be." 

The  value  of  knowledge,  culture, aesthetic  taste,  and 
social  pride  as  aids  to  conduct  is  a  matter  of  casuistic 
dispute :  but  all  will  agree  that  where  such  auxiliaries 


144  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

are  wanting  the  absence  can  be  made  good  only  by 
the  mystic  power  of  faith.  The  combined  experience 
of  mankind  shows  that  it  is  impossible  to  bring  a 
backward  race  under  a  wholesome,  moral  order  with- 
out the  quickening  power  of  spiritual  motive.  Intel- 
lectual doctrine  and  moral  maxims  are  not  sufficient. 
China  to-day  stands  as  a  living,  or  rather  as  a  dying, 
embodiment  of  what  a  scheme  of  morality  will  do  for 
a  race  without  the  mystic  religious  element.  Moral- 
ity, without  religion,  especially  to  an  unawakened 
people,  is  as  impotent  and  void  of  effect  as  a  cannon 
ball  without  the  propulsive  power  of  gunpowder. 

A  new  people  stand  especially  in  the  need  of 
religious  guidance.  An  old-stablished  race,  as  his- 
tory has  often  demonstrated,  may  exist  for  ages  on 
the  forms  of  faith  after  the  vital  spirit  has  departed. 
They  are  carried  forward  by  the  spiritual  inertia 
acquired  in  a  more  virile  and  pious  period.  The  foun- 
dation of  the  Roman  greatness  was  laid  in  the  good 
old  days  of  stern  and  robust  Roman  faith  and  vir- 
tue. The  anchor-sheet  of  our  own  Republic  was 
forged  in  the  furnace  of  faith.  It  is  absolutely  es- 
sential for  a  people  to  begin  right.  The  opening 
words  of  Genesis  form  the  granite  foundation 
of  all  true  race  building — "  In  the  beginning, 
God." 

This  brings  us  to  the  importance  of  religious  in- 
struction in  colored  schools,  whether  under  public 
or  private  control.  For  the  sake  of  avoiding  argu- 
ment we  may  hold  in  abeyance  the  larger  aspect  of 
this  question,  and  limit  our  discussion  to  its  appli- 
cation to  this  unfortunate  class.  The  missionaries 
who  came  South  directly  after  the  war  were  not  edu- 
cators in  the  modern  significance  of  that  term,  many 
of  them  were  not  even  educated ;  and  yet  they  worked 
wonders  in  transforming  the  life  of  a  new  people. 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  145 

They  were  filled  with  the  love  of  God  and  his  dark 
and  benighted  creatures,  and  imparted  a  measure  of 
their  moral  and  spiritual  zeal  to  the  people  among 
whom  they  came  to  labor.  There  was  not  an  unbe- 
liever among  them.  Suppose  they  had  left  their 
Bibles  at  home ;  does  any  one  believe  that  they  could 
have  imparted  such  a  lasting  and  wholesome  impulse? 
In  this  instance  surely  the  letter  killeth  and  the  spirit 
maketh  alive.  You  do  not  arouse  the  lethargic  en- 
ergies of  a  people  seeking  a  newness  of  life  by  im- 
parting information  to  the  mind  or  skill  to  the  fin- 
gers, but  by  quickening  the  spirit.  The  public 
schools,  with  their  more  competent  secular  agencies, 
have  supplanted  the  missionary  in  the  educational 
world ;  but,  alas !  the  subtle  spirit  is  wanting.  It  is 
one  of  the  greatest  misfortunes  of  the  race  that  this 
moral  and  spiritual  influence  was  too  early  with- 
drawn. 

The  home,  the  church,  and  the  school  are  the  only 
places  where  religious  instruction  can  formally  be 
imparted.  The  average  Negro  home  is  no  more  ca- 
pable of  imparting  religious  than  intellectual  knowl- 
edge. The  Sunday  school  has  the  child  only  one 
hour  a  week,  whereas  the  ordinary  church  service  is 
too  stiff  and  formal  to  be  of  much  advantage  to  the 
average  child.  Thus  it  can  readily  be  seen  that  the 
great  bulk  of  Negro  children  are  growing  up  in 
moral  and  spiritual  illiteracy,  without  a  saving  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth. 

There  does  not  exist  the  same  ground  for  contro- 
versy over  introducing  the  Bible  in  Negro  schools  as 
in  the  case  of  the  white  race.  With  the  Negro  there 
are  practically  only  two  religious  denominations,  with 
no  great  diversity  of  theological  tenets.  He  has  no 
inherited  doctrinal  bias.  Schismatic  differences  have 
not  been  burned  into  his  soul  by  the  hot  iron  of  per- 


146  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

secution  and  martyrdom.  The  Irishman  is  a  Cath- 
olic, the  Scotchman  a  Presbyterian,  the  Yankee  a 
Congregationalist  for  reasons  whose  roots  strike  deep 
in  the  soil  of  conflict  and  suffering.  The  Negro  has 
no  serious  controversy  over  Scriptural  interpretation. 
He  is  never  tried  for  heresy.  He  does  not  wrangle 
over  questions  of  the  higher  criticism.  After  all 
these  things  does  the  white  Christian  seek.  The 
time-honored  dispute  as  to  the  proper  mode  of  bap- 
tism is  about  the  only  Scriptural  text  that  the  Negro 
approaches  with  controversial  heat.  The  funda- 
mental agreement  among  the  Negro  race  as  to  the 
interpretation  and  value  of  Bible  teaching  renders 
such  instruction  comparatively  easy  of  accomplish- 
ment. 

Again,  religion  furnishes  the  only  sanction  that 
can  enable  the  overridden  races  to  contemplate 
the  trend  of  modern  civilization  with  composure  of 
spirit.  They  form  an  insignificant  part  in  the  world's 
rivalry  for  material  and  political  supremacy.  The 
exceeding  weight  of  humiliation  under  which  the  Ne- 
gro labors  can  be  relieved  only  by  a  firm  grasp  upon 
the  spiritual  and  eternal  verities.  When  a  contestant 
feels  that  a  prize  is  beyond  his  grasp  he  is  apt  to  con- 
sole himself  by  depreciating  its  value.  The  humble 
slave  on  bended  knee,  with  marvelous  sagacity,  gave 
utterance  to  a  far-reaching  philosophy :  "  You  may 
have  all  the  world;  give  me  Jesus."  Although  this 
utterance  has  been  made  the  butt  of  much  ridicule  in 
recent  years,  it  may  yet  prove  that  the  intuition  of 
the  soul  is  a  safer  criterion  than  the  deductions  of 
the  intellect.  Can  the  heavily  handicapped  Negro, 
with  his  present  enfeebled  energies  and  hereditar}' 
ineptitude  for  affairs,  compete  with  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
the  modern  war-lord  of  creation,  for  the  power  and 
glory  of  this  world?     Is  he  not  much  more  likely  to 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  147 

solve  his  problems  by  adhering  to  high  moral  and 
spiritual  precepts  than  by  joining  the  great  white 
throng  which  bows  down  and  worships  before  the 
shrine  of  "  the  almighty  dollar  "? 

The  historic  development  of  races  verifies  the  truth 
of  Scripture :  "  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be 
added." 

There  are  more  than  twenty  million  persons  of 
African  blood  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  These 
people  have  been  brought  here  and  are  permitted 
to  remain  and  to  insinuate  themselves  into  the 
civilization  and  culture  of  this  continent  because  of 
their  passing  Christian  graces  of  meekness  and 
lowliness. 

The  presence  and  promise  of  the  Negro  in  the 
Western  world  is  a  striking  fulfilment  of  that  Scrip- 
ture saying  which  is  at  once  a  beatitude  and  a  proph- 
ecy :  "  Blessed  are  the  meek  for  they  shall  inherit  the 
earth."  The  Negro  is  not  only  preserved  by  his 
passive  virtues,  but  he  holds  them  as  a  lash  over  the 
conscience  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  to  scourge  him  to 
the  observance  of  the  requirements  of  the  faith  to 
which  he  avows  allegiance.  The  history  of  religion 
abounds  in  anomalies.  The  European  derived  his 
creed  from  Jew,  but  as  soon  as  the  transference  was 
finished  the  new  convert  turned  in  persecution  upon 
the  race  through  which  the  cult  had  been  transmitted. 
The  American  Negro  secured  his  first  notion  of  the 
Christian  religion  from  the  Anglo-Saxon,  but  now, 
with  acknowledged  justice,  denounces  him  bitterly 
for  his  failure  to  keep  the  precepts  of  the  faith  which 
he  transmitted  to  others. 

Moral  and  spiritual  qualities  are  of  the  essence  of 
eternal  good,  and  carry  their  own  reward.  The 
Negro  holds  a  warmer  place  in  the  sympathies  of  his 


148  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

fellow-men,  because  it  can  be  said,  "  Behold,  he 
prayeth." 

And  what  if  men  should  fail  to  recognize  moral  and 
spiritual  excellence?  They  do  not  depend  upon  hu- 
man recognition  for  their  value.  For  if  God  is  our 
Father,  it  matters  little  whether  Abraham  affects  ig- 
norance of  us  or  Israel  acknowledges  us  or  not. 

In  estimating  the  benefits  of  Christianity  to  the 
natives  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  a  pious  missionary 
recounted  the  inestimable  blessing  in  that  it  had  pre- 
pared thousands  of  the  dwindling  race  for  their  heav- 
enly home.  To  the  Hawaiian  this  must  be  bitter 
irony.  The  salvation  of  the  soul  is  an  individual 
and  not  a  collective  phenomenon.  It  is  poor  conso- 
lation to  the  Indian  race  to  be  assured  that  an  en- 
croaching Christian  civilization  has  merely  hastened 
its  departure  to  the  happy  hunting-ground  in  the 
sky.  But  the  mission  of  Christianity  is  to  bring 
about  social  salvation,  as  well  as  the  salvation  of 
souls.  However  the  complex  problems  of  race  may 
eventuate,  whether  the  Negro  is  to  be  absorbed  in 
the  great  body  of  the  American  people,  or  to  be  per- 
petuated in  racial  integrity,  whether  he  is  to  be 
banished  to  some  distant  continent,  or  perish  from 
the  face  of  the  earth,  religion  is  absolutely  essential 
either  as  a  solvent  or  as  a  salve. 

So  far  we  have  dealt  with  the  effect  of  religion 
upon  the  Negro  alone,  but  its  effect  upon  the  white 
race  is  an  equally  important  factor. 

The  real  question  is,  What  power  is  there  in  Chris- 
tianity to  wean  men  from  race  prejudice?  If  we  lis- 
ten to  some  of  the  good  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  who 
with  incredible  suddenness  turn  philosophers  and 
propose  off-hand  solution  for  all  sociological  prob- 
lems, religion  has  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  this 
question. 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  149 

We  are  led  to  believe  that  the  white  man  is  all- 
wise,  all-good,  and  altogether  without  sin,  while  the 
Negro  is  passively  or  actively  responsible  for  all  of 
the  evils  of  the  situation ;  that  the  white  man  is  bear- 
ing his  burden  with  fortitude  and  grace,  while  the 
Negro  should  be  thankful  for  whatever  treatment  he 
receives  or  escapes. 

They  tell  us  that  the  Negro  must  be  patient,  that 
his  hand  must  be  trained  to  work,  that  the  ballot 
must  be  taken  from  him,  that  his  civil  privileges  must 
be  limited,  that  he  must  be  constantly  impressed  with 
a  sense  of  inferiority;  but  few  indeed  have  courage 
to  demand  of  the  white  race  to  apply  the  simple 
principles  and  precepts  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  in 
dealing  with  their  black  brethren  of  the  same  house- 
hold of  faith. 

Mr.  James  Bryce,  in  his  notable  lecture  on  the 
world-wide  race  problem,  asserts  that  religious  sanc- 
tion is  less  strong  than  the  bond  of  blood.  This  is 
contradictory  to  the  plain  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
Gospel.  We  have  fallen  upon  such  evil  days  that 
quotation  of  Scripture,  however  direct  or  unequiv- 
ocal, is  not  regarded  as  serious  argument.  When 
Jesus  was  chided  with  seeming  indifference  toward 
His  kindred  after  the  flesh,  He  responded :  "  Who 
is  my  mother  and  who  are  my  brothers?  For 
whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  which 
is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my  brother  and  sister  and 
mother." 

A  strong  religious  sanction  can  command  amity 
among  diverse  races  or  enmity  among  kindred  ones, 
and  it  will  be  so.  The  Apostle  Paul  found  the  new 
cult  of  grace  sufficient  to  solve  the  ethnological  prob- 
lems of  his  day.  For,  through  the  eye  of  faith,  he 
could  discern  neither  "  Jew  nor  Greek,  Barbarian, 
Scythian,  bond  or  free,  but  Christ  is  all  and  in  all." 


150  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

The  unifying  power  of  religion  alone  can  allay  the 
frictional  strife  among  the  sons   of  men. 

Mr.  James  Bryce,  in  commenting  upon  this  supe- 
rior pacifying  power  of  Mohammedanism,  says : 
"  Can  one  of  the  causes  be  that  Christianity  achieves 
less  because  it  aims  at  more  ?  "  Then  in  answer  to  his 
own  question  he  rejoins:  "Christians,  of  course 
with  many  noble  exceptions,  have  failed  to  rise  to  the 
level  of  the  higher  teaching,  while  Moslems  have  risen 
to  the  level  of  the  lower."  And  yet  the  teachings  of 
the  two  religions  are  identical  as  respects  those  who 
are  of  the  same  household  of  faith.  There  is  the 
crux  of  the  whole  question — Christianity  has  not 
solved  the  race  problem  because  Christians,  in  ade- 
quate numbers,  have  not  risen  up  to  the  level  of  their 
creed.  Emerson  tells  us  that  "  every  Stoic  was  a 
Stoic,  but  in  Christendom  where  is  the  Christian?  " 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  Catholic  states  are 
superior  to  the  Protestant  countries  in  controlling 
the  virulence  of  race  prejudice.  Macaulay  tells  us 
that  it  was  the  policy  of  this  church  that  caused  the 
disappearance  of  animosity  between  Saxon  and  Nor- 
man in  England.  In  Brazil  the  African  element  is  as 
large  or  larger  in  proportion  than  it  is  in  the  South- 
ern States,  and  yet  race  friction  is  unknown.  Re- 
cently the  United  States  has  driven  a  Catholic  power 
from  the  Western  Hemisphere  in  the  interest  of  free 
institutions ;  but  if  the  victor  shall  derive  from  the 
vanquished  the  secret  and  method  by  which  to  subdue 
race  prejudice,  so  that  the  race  relations  shall  be  as 
kindly  and  as  congenial  in  Washington  as  they  are  in 
Havana,  he  will  derive  from  the  vanquished  Spaniard 
as  valuable  a  lesson  as  he  can  hope  to  bestow  upon  his 
long  suffering  victim. 

In  fostering  the  spirit  and  power  of  initiative,  in 
awakening  the  dominant  forces  which  conquer  and 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  151 

control,  the  Protestant  religion  clearly  leads  the  van 
of  progress.  It  solves  all  physical  and  natural  prob- 
lems, but  seems  to  fail  to  produce  a  harmonious  ad- 
justment among  the  different  breeds  of  men. 

But  Christianity  has  not  yet  been  able  to  wean  the 
Anglo-Saxon  of  his  race  prejudice.  With  him  ethnic 
ties  are  cherished  more  fondly  than  bond  of  faith  or 
moral  and  spiritual  kinship.  Blood  is  not  onty  de- 
clared to  be  thicker  than  water,  but  its  consistency 
and  spissitude  surpass  the  cohesive  power  of 
civilization,  morality,  and  religion.  With  him  phil- 
anthropic interest  and  personal  repugnance  are  not 
incompatible  terms.  While  he  professedly  loves  the 
soul,  he  avowedly  dislikes  the  bodies  of  those  whose 
blood  differs  from  his  own.  He  will  build  schools  and 
colleges,  establish  asylums  and  hospitals,  give  of  his 
substance  and  his  service  to  carry  the  light  to  the 
darksome  places  of  the  earth,  but  his  tough  Teu- 
tonic spirit  balks  at  the  concrete  brotherhood  of  man. 

A  learned  bishop  of  the  Episcopal  Church  is  re- 
ported to  have  said :  "  I  care  not  if  a  Negro  be  as 
learned  as  Socrates  or  as  pious  as  St.  John,  yet  he 
could  not  sit  down  at  my  table."  Such  race  intol- 
erance would  doubtless  be  astounding  both  to  Soc- 
rates and  St.  John.  Household  intimacy  and  the 
details  of  personal  intercourse  may  indeed  fall  out- 
side the  sphere  of  one's  Christian  duty;  but  to  hold 
such  things  to  be  of  higher  sacredness  and  sanction 
than  one's  religious  creed  merely  shows  the  arrogant 
spirit  which  actuates  those  who  worship  at  the  shrine 
of  race  idolatry. 

It  required  two  revelations  to  convince  the  Apostle 
Peter  that  what  God  had  cleansed  was  no  longer  com- 
mon or  unclean.  Will  it  require  still  another  to  teach 
the  Teuton  so? 

We  read  in  Isaiah  of  the  type  of  soul  that  char- 


152  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

acterizes  the  Kingdom  of  God,  as  being  without  form 
or  comeliness,  and  when  we  shall  see  him  there  is  no 
beauty  that  we  should  desire  him.  We  did  deem  him 
stricken,  smitten  of  God  and  afflicted,  and  hid,  as  it 
were,  our  faces  from  him;  and  we  console  ourselves 
that  this  has  exclusive  reference  to  the  attitude  of 
the  stiff-necked  Jew  toward  the  Messianic  prophecy. 
But  does  it  not  equally  describe  the  supercilious  at- 
titude of  the  white  Christian  to-day  toward  an  humble 
black  people  whom  he  holds  in  despite?  But  if  the 
Christian  religion  has  not  overcome,  it  has  markedly 
modified  this  rancorous  spirit. 

The  great  work  which  Northern  philanthropy  has 
accomplished  was  inspired  mainly  by  religious  motive. 
Without  the  love  of  God  the  love  for  man  becomes  a 
dead  formulary.  For  love  of  knowledge  men  will 
hazard  their  lives  in  quest  of  some  new  or  unknown 
fact  or  process  of  knowledge;  the  soldier,  in  a  burst 
of  patriotic  fervor,  gives  up  his  life  to  his  country; 
the  student  of  science  is  carried  away  with  zeal  and 
enthusiasm  for  screeching  things  that  fly  in  the  air 
or  creeping  things  that  crawl  on  the  earth  or  for 
slimy  things  that  swim  in  the  sea.  But  it  is  only  the 
man  or  woman  whose  soul  is  full  of  the  love  of  God 
that  devotes  his  life  and  powers  to  the  salvation  of 
the  souls  and  bodies  of  dying  men. 

It  is  in  matters  of  religion  that  the  two  races  will 
find  the  surest  basis  of  mutual  helpfulness  and  co- 
operation. Through  contact  and  assistance  from 
the  white  race  the  Negro  will  be  enabled  to  maintain 
a  higher  standard  of  concrete  morality,  thus  insur- 
ing morer  rational  modes  of  worship  and  orderly  /  I  ^ 
habits  of  life.  On  the  other  hand,  the  white  race  will  ^ 
be  a  great  debtor.  Culture  and  refinement  are  not  es- 
sential conditions  of  spiritual  enlightenment,  but  the 
inevitable  outcome.     It  does  not  always  appear  in  a 


RELIGION    AS    A    SOLVENT  153 

pleasing  outward  garb.  The  spiritually  minded  have 
usually  been  despised  and  rejected  of  men.  The 
haughty  Caucasian  can  learn  from  the  despised  Ne- 
gro valuable  lessons  in  meekness,  humility,  and  for- 
giveness of  spirit,  the  brightest  stars  that  shine  in 
the  galaxy  of  the  Christian  graces.  The  Negro 
Christian  must  purify  himself  of  grossness  and  carnal 
corruption,  and  the  white  Christian  must  descend 
from  his  pharisaical  attitude,  whose  pious  hauteur 
finds  vent  in  the  prayer,  "  I  thank  the  Lord  that  I 
am  not  as  other  men,"  until  they,  too,  shall  meet 
upon  a  common  plane  of  truth  and  righteousness  and 
brotherly  kindness. 

Christianity  will  solve  the  race  problem  if,  as  we 
profess  to  believe,  it  is  destined  to  gain  full  sway 
over  the  innate  wickedness  of  the  human  heart.  Right 
and  wrong  may  co-exist  for  ages,  but  finally  the  evil 
will  be  swallowed  up  in  good.  Universal  slavery  ex- 
isted for  well-nigh  two  thousand  years  after  the  ad- 
vent of  the  Christian  dispensation,  but  in  the  fullness 
of  time  the  influence  of  this  religion  destroyed  the 
iniquitous  system  wherever  its  power  prevailed.  Chris- 
tianity is  incompatible  with  caste.  Spiritual  kinship 
transcends  all  personal  and  social  relations. 

The  solution  of  the  race  question  depends  upon  the 
simple  recognition  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
Brotherhood  of  Man,  and  the  application  of  the 
Golden  Rule  to  the  affairs  of  life.  Let  the  Negro 
lay  stress  of  emphasis  upon  the  Ten  Commandments 
and  the  white  man  upon  the  Golden  Rule,  and  all  will 
be  well. 


PLEA    OF    THE    OPPRESSED 

u  Lord,    Teach  us    How    to   Pray " 

O  Thou  who  heard  the  plaintful  plea 
Of  our  forebears  on  bended  knee, 
And  broke  their  bonds  and  set  them  free, 
To  Thee  we  pray, 
To  Thee  we  pray. 

In  broken  word  and  wailing  tone, 
In  deep,  unutterable  groan, 
They  made  their  tribulations  known; 
Hear  us,  we  pray, 
Hear  us,  we  pray. 

In  this  dark  day  of  sore  distress, 

In  deepest  gloom  of  wilderness, 

When  threatening  ills  so  hardly  press; 

Help  us  this  day, 

Help  us  this  day. 

If  slighting  scorn  of  race  would  seek 
Its  vial  of  wrath  to  venge  and  wreak 
Upon  this  lowly  folk  and  meek, 
Spare  us,  we  pray, 
Spare  us,  we  pray. 

They  need  not  fear,  our  Strength  and  Stay, 
Who  keep  thy  Law,  walk  in  the  way, 
When  all  the  world  might  look  and  say: 
"Behold,  they  pray!" 
"Behold,   they  pray!" 

154 


PLEA    OF    THE    OPPRESSED  155 

But  when  we  stray  from  Thy  command, 
And  feel  Thy  sore  afflicting  hand, 
We  humbly  bow;  we  understand: 

May  we  obey, 

May  we  obey. 

If  some  Thy  saving  help  deny, 

With  wild,  inane,  distracted  cry, 

Like  Job's  wild  wife,  would  curse  and  die, 

Forgive,  we  pray, 

Forgive,  we  pray. 

If  time-taught  wisdom  nostrums  find 
In  cunning  hand  or  knowing  mind, 
Show  the  blind  leaders  of  the  blind 

'Tis  vanity, 

'Tis  vanity. 

Thy  righteous  Law  is  all  our  trust, 
Who  builds  on  else  but  builds  on  dust; 
The  Mighty  should,  the  Lowly  must 

Rely  alway, 

Rely  alway. 

Lord,  since  of  stones  Thou  raiseth  seed 
As  choice  as  any  boasted  breed, 
Vouchsafe  to  us  the  larger  meed, 

We  humbly  pray, 

We  humbly  pray, 
Amen. 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN 

There  is  much  speculation  as  to  the  ultimate  des- 
tiny of  the  Negro  population  in  the  United  States. 
History  furnishes  no  exact  or  approximate  parallel. 
When  widely  dissimilar  races  are  thrown  into  intimate 
contact  it  is  inevitable  that  either  extermination,  ex- 
pulsion or  separate  racial  types  will  be  the  outcome. 
So  far  as  the  present  problem  is  concerned,  extermi- 
nation and  expulsion  have  few  serious  advocates, 
while  amalgamation  has  no  courageous  ones.  The 
concensus  of  opinion  seems  to  be  that  the  two  races 
will  preserve  their  separate  identity  as  co-inhabitants 
of  the  same  territory.  The  main  contention  is  as  to 
the  mode  of  adjustment,  whether  it  shall  be  the  co- 
ordination or  subordination  of  the  African. 

All  profitable  speculation  upon  sociological  prob- 
lems must  be  based  upon  definitely  ascertained  social 
tendencies.  It  is  impossible  to  forecast  coming  events 
unless  we  stand  within  the  pale  of  their  shadow.  The 
Weather  Bureau  at  Washington,  discerning  the  signs 
of  air  and  cloud  and  sky,  makes  probable  predictions 
of  sunshine  or  storm.  Such  predictions  are  not  for 
the  purpose  of  enabling  us  to  affect  or  modify  ap- 
proaching events,  but  to  put  ourselves  and  our  af- 
fairs in  harmony  with  them.  Sociological  events 
have  the  inevitableness  of  natural  law,  against  which 
speculations  and  prophecies  are  as  unavailing  as 
against  the  coming  of  wind  and  tide.  Prescient  wis- 
dom is  serviceable  only  in  so  far  as  it  enables  us  to 
put  ourselves  in  harmony  with  foreknown  conditions. 
Plans  and  policies  for  the  solution  of  the  race  prob- 

156 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN  157 

lem  should  be  based  upon  as  full  a  knowledge  of  the 
facts  and  factors  of  the  situation  as  it  is  possible  to 
gain,  and  should  be  in  line  with  the  trend  of  forces 
which  it  is  impossible  to  subvert.  Social  tendencies, 
like  natural  laws,  are  not  affected  by  quackery  and 
patent  nostrums.  Certain  of  our  sociological  states- 
men are  assuming  intimate  knowledge  of  the  eternal 
decrees,  and  are  graciously  volunteering  their  as- 
sistance to  Providence.  They  are  telling  us,  with 
the  assurance  of  inspiration,  of  the  destiny  which  lies 
in  store  for  the  black  man.  It  is  noticeable,  however, 
that  those  who  affect  such  familiarity  with  the  plans 
and  purposes  of  Providence  are  not  usually  men  of 
deep  knowledge  or  devout  spirit.  The  prophets  of 
evil  seem  to  derive  their  inspiration  from  hate  rather 
than  love.  In  olden  times,  when  God  communicated 
with  man  from  burning  bush  and  on  mountain  top, 
He  selected  men  of  lowly,  loving,  loyal  souls  as  the 
chosen  channel  of  revelation.  To  believe  that  those 
who  breathe  out  slaughter  and  hatred  against  their 
fellow-men  are  now  his  chosen  mouthpiece  is  to  as- 
sume that  Providence,  in  these  latter  days,  has  grown 
less  particular  than  aforetime  in  the  choice  of  spokes- 
men. 

The  most  gifted  of  men  possess  very  feeble  clair- 
voyant power.  We  do  not  know  the  changes  that 
even  a  generation  may  bring  forth.  To  say  that  the 
Negro  will  never  attain  to  this  or  that  destiny  requires 
no  superior  knowledge  or  foresight  except  audacity 
of  spirit  and  recklessness  of  utterance.  History  has 
so  often  changed  the  "  never "  of  the  orator  into 
accomplished  results,  that  the  too-frequent  use  of 
that  term  is  of  itself  an  indication  of  heedlessness  and 
incaution.  It  is  safe  to  follow  the  lead  of  Dr.  Lyman 
Abbott,  and  limit  the  duration  of  the  oratorical 
"  never  "  to  the  present  generation,     When,  there- 


158  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

fore,  we  say  that  the  Negro  will  never  be  expelled  or 
amalgamated  or  that  he  will  forever  maintain  his 
peculiar  type  of  race,  the  prediction,  however  em- 
phatically put  forth,  does  not  outrun  the  time  which 
we  have  the  present  means  of  foreseeing.  The  for- 
tune of  the  Negro  rises  and  falls  in  the  scale  of  public 
regard  with  the  fluctuation  of  mercury  in  the  bulb 
of  a  thermometer,  ranging  alternately  from  blood 
heat  to  freezing  point.  In  1860  he  would  have  been 
considered  a  rash  prophet  who  should  have  predicted 
that  within  the  next  fifteen  years  colored  men  would 
constitute  a  potent  factor  in  State  legislatures  and 
in  the  national  Congress.  On  the  other  hand,  who, 
in  1875, would  have  hazarded  his  prophetic  reputation 
by  predicting  that  during  the  following  quarter  of  a 
century  the  last  Negro  representative  would  be 
driven  from  places  of  local  and  national  authority, 
and  that  the  opening  of  a  new  century  would  find  the 
last  two  amendments  to  the  Constitution  effectually 
annulled?  No  more  can  we  predict  what  change 
in  public  feeling  and  policy  the  remote  or  near  future 
may  have  in  store.  But  of  one  thing  we  may  rest 
assured,  the  coming  generations  will  be  better  able 
than  we  are  to  cope  with  their  own  problems.  They 
will  have  more  light  and  knowledge,  and,  let  us  hope, 
a  larger  measure  of  patience  and  tolerance.  Our 
little  plans  of  solution  that  we  are  putting  forth  with 
so  much  assurance  and  satisfaction  will  doubtless 
afford  ample  amusement  in  years  to  come. 

"  We  call  our  fathers  fools, 
So    wise    we    grow; 
Our    wiser   sons,    no    doubt,    will 
Call  us   so." 

The  late  Professor  Freeman,  in  his  "  Impressions 
of  the  United  States,"  suggests  a  unique  solution  of 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN  159 

the  race  problem;  viz.,  let  each  Irishman  kill  a  Negro 
and  get  hanged  for  it.  In  this  way  America  would 
be  speedily  rid  of  its  race  problems,  both  Ethiopic 
and  Celtic.  We  read  this  suggestion  and  smile,  as  no 
doubt  the  author  intended  we  should.  And  so  we 
smile  at  the  panaceas  and  nostrums  that  are  being 
put  forth  with  so  much  ardor  of  feeling.  Many 
such  theories  might  be  laughed  out  of  existence  if 
one  only  possessed  the  power  of  comic  portrayal. 
While  we  muse  the  fire  is  burning.  But  alas,  we  lack 
the  discernment  to  read  aright  the  signs  of  the 
times. 

Physical  population  contains  all  the  potential  ele- 
ments of  society,  and  the  careful  student  relies  upon 
its  movement  and  expansion  as  the  controlling  factor 
in  social  evolution.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the 
Federal  census  is  so  eagerly  awaited  by  those  who 
seek  careful  knowledge  upon  the  race  problem  in 
America.  There  are  certain  definitely  ascertainable 
tendencies  in  the  Negro  population  that  seem  clearly 
to  indicate  the  immediate,  if  not  the  ultimate  destiny 
of  that  race.  Amid  all  the  conflicting  and  contra- 
dictory showings  of  the  several  censuses  since  eman- 
cipation, there  is  one  tendency  that  stands  out  clear 
and  pronounced;  viz.,  the  mass  center  of  the  Negro 
population  is  moving  steadily  toward  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Notwithstanding  the  proffer  of  more  liberal 
political  and  civil  inducements  of  the  old  abolition 
States  of  the  North  and  West,  the  mass  movement  is 
in  the  Southerly  direction.  The  industrial  exclusion 
and  social  indifference  of  the  old  free  States  are  not 
inviting  to  the  African  immigrant,  nor  is  the  severe 
climate  congenial  to  his  tropical  nature.  The  Negro 
population  in  the  higher  latitudes  is  not  a  self-sus- 
taining quantity.  It  would  languish  and  gradually 
disappear  unless  constantly  reinforced  by  fresh  blood 


160  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

from  the  South.  Although  there  has  been  a  steady 
stream  of  immigration  to  the  North  for  the  past 
forty  years,  yet  92  per  cent,  of  the  race  are  found  in 
the  States  which  fostered  the  institution  of  slavery 
at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War.  The  thirty-one  free 
States  of  the  North  and  West  do  not  contain  as 
many  Negroes  as  Alabama.  There  is  no  likelihood 
that  the  Negro  population  will  scatter  itself  equally 
throughout  the  different  sections  of  the  country.  We 
should  not  be  misled  by  the  considerable  Northern 
movement  of  the  last  census  decade.  This  period  was 
marked  by  unusual  unrest  in  the  South,  and  many 
of  the  more  vigorous  or  more  adventurous  Negroes 
sought  refuge  in  the  cities  of  the  North.  But  evi- 
dently this  tendency  is  subject  to  sharp  self-limitation. 
In  the  lower  tier  of  the  Southern  States,  comprising 
Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana, 
Texas  and  Arkansas,  there  has  been  a  steady  relative 
gain  in  the  Negro  population,  rising  from  39  per 
cent,  of  the  entire  race  in  1850  to  53  per  cent,  in 
1900.  On  the  other  hand,  the  upper  tier,  including 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and 
Missouri,  showed  a  decline  from  54  to  37  per  cent, 
during  the  same  interval.  The  census  shows  an  un- 
mistakable movement  from  the  upper  South  to  the 
coastal  and  Gulf  States.  The  Negro  constitutes  the 
majority  of  the  population  in  South  Carolina  and 
Mississippi,  and  also  in  Louisiana,  outside  of  the  city 
of  New  Orleans.  The  colored  race  forms  the  more 
numerous  element  in  the  group  of  States  comprising 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi and  Louisiana,  a  contiguous  territory  of  290,- 
000  square  miles.  Within  this  region  the  two  races 
seem  to  be  growing  at  about  the  same  pace.  During 
the  last  decade  the  Negro  rate  of  increase  exceeded 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN  161 

the  white  in  Florida,  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  but 
fell  below  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Louisiana. 
But  the  State  as  the  unit  of  area  gives  us  a  very 
imperfect  idea  of  the  relative  and  general  spread  and 
tendency  of  the  Negro  element.  The  movement  of 
this  population  is  controlled  almost  wholly  by  eco- 
nomic and  social  motives,  and  is  very  faintly  affected 
by  State  boundaries  or  political  action.  The  Negro 
is  segregating  in  the  fertile  regions  and  along  the 
river  courses  where  the  race  was  most  thickly  planted 
by  the  institution  of  slavery.  This  shaded  area  ex- 
tends from  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  through 
eastern  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  thence  through 
South  Carolina,  middle  Georgia  and  Alabama  and 
Mississippi  to  the  Mississippi  River.  Leading  off 
from  the  main  track,  there  are  darkened  strips  of 
various  width,  along  the  Atlantic  Ocean  through 
eastern  Georgia  and  northern  Florida  and  along  the 
banks  of  the  Chattahoochee,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Sabine  and  Brazos  rivers  leading  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  The  South  is  dotted  with  white  belts  as 
well  as  with  black  ones.  Western  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  the  southern  and  northern  extremes  of 
Georgia  and  Alabama,  and  the  peninsula  part  of 
Florida  are  predominantly  white  sections.  There 
are  scores  of  counties  in  which  the  Negro  does  not 
constitute  ten  per  cent,  of  the  population.  The 
Negro  element  not  only  does  not  tend  to  scatter 
equally  throughout  the  country  at  large,  but  even  in 
the  South  it  is  gathering  more  and  more  thickly  into 
separate  spaces.  The  black  belts  and  white  belts  in 
the  South  are  so  interwoven  as  to  frustrate  any  plan 
of  solution  looking  to  political  and  territorial  solidar- 
ity. The  measures  intended  to  disfranchise  the  Ne- 
gro in  eastern  Virginia  operate  against  the  ignorant 
whites  in  the  western  end  of  the  State.     The  coming 


162  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

political  contest  in  the  South  will  not  be  between 
whites  and  blacks,  but  it  will  be  over  the  undue  power 
of  a  white  vote  based  upon  the  black  majority.  The 
black  counties  are  the  more  populous,  and  therefore 
have  greater  political  weight.  The  few  white  voters 
in  such  counties  are  thus  enabled  to  counterbalance 
many  times  their  own  number  in  the  white  districts. 
This  gives  rise  to  the  same  dissatisfaction  that  comes 
from  the  North  because  the  Southerner's  vote  is 
given  added  weight  by  reason  of  the  black  man  whose 
representative  power  he  usurps.  A  closer  study  of 
the  black  belt  reveals  the  fact  that  they  include  the 
more  fertile  portions  of  the  South.  The  master  set- 
tled his  slaves  upon  the  rich,  productive  lands,  and 
banished  the  poor  whites  to  the  thin  and  barren 
regions.  These  belts  are  best  adapted  to  the  culture 
of  cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  and  sugar  cane,  the  staple 
productions  in  which  the  South  has  advantage  over 
other  sections  of  the  country.  The  Negro,  by  virtue 
of  his  geographical  distribution,  holds  the  key  to  the 
agricultural  development  of  the  South. 

A  clearer  idea  of  the  distribution  of  the  Negro 
population  can  be  had  by  taking  the  county  as 
the  unit  of  area.  The  number  of  counties  in  which 
the  Negroes  outnumber  the  whites  has  risen  from  237 
in  1860  to  279  in  1900.  This  would  make  a  section 
as  large  as  the  North  Atlantic  division  of  States. 
Within  these  counties  there  are,  on  the  average,  130 
Negroes  to  every  100  whites.  In  1860  there  were  71 
counties  in  which  the  Negroes  were  more  than  twice 
as  numerous  as  the  whites,  which  number  had  swollen 
to  108  in  1900.  The  region  of  total  eclipse  shows  a 
tendency  to  spread  more  rapidly  than  the  penumbra 
surrounding  it.  The  average  ratio  of  Negroes  in 
these  densely  black  counties  is  about  three  to  one. 
In  some  counties  there  are  from  ten  to  fifteen  Negroes 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN  163 

to  every  white  person.  The  future  of  such  counties, 
so  far  as  the  population  is  concerned,  is  too  plainly 
foreshadowed  to  leave  the  slightest  room  for  doubt. 
There  seems  to  be  some  concert  of  action  on  the 
part  of  the  afflicted  States.  The  revised  constitutions 
have  followed  with  almost  mathematical  exactness  the 
relative  density  of  the  colored  element.  The  historic 
order  has  been  Mississippi,  South  Carolina,  Louisi- 
ana, North  Carolina,  Alabama  and  Virginia. 
Arkansas  and  Florida  have  not  followed  suit,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  they  do  not  have  to.  But  polit- 
ical action  does  not  affect  the  spread  of  population. 
The  Negro  finds  the  South  a  congenial  habitat.  Like 
flora  and  fauna,  that  race  variety  will  ultimately 
survive  in  any  region  that  is  best  adapted  to  its  en- 
vironment. We  can  no  more  stop  the  momentum  of 
this  population  than  we  can  stop  the  oncoming  of 
wind  and  wave.  To  the  most  casual  observer  it  is 
clearly  apparent  that  the  white  race  cannot  compete 
with  the  Negro  industrially  in  a  hot  climate  and 
along  the  miasmatic  lowlands.  Where  the  white  man 
has  to  work  in  the  burning  sun,  the  cadaverous, 
emaciated  body,  drooping  spirit  and  thin,  nasal  voice 
bespeak  the  rapid  decline  of  this  breed.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Negro  multiplies  and  makes  merry. 
His  body  is  vigorous  and  his  spirit  buoyant.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  in  many  sections  the  Negro 
element  is  gradually  driving  out  the  whites.  In 
the  struggle  for  existence  the  fittest  will  survive. 
Fitness  in  this  case  consists  in  adaptability  to  cli- 
mate and  industrial  environment.  In  the  West 
Indian  archipelago  the  Negro  race  has  practically 
expelled  the  proud  Caucasian,  not,  to  be  sure,  vi  et 
armis,  but  by  the  much  more  invincible  force  of  race 
momentum.  This  seems  to  be  the  inevitable  destiny 
of  the  black  belts  in  the  South.    For  example,  in  the 


164  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

State  of  Georgia  the  number  of  counties  in  which  the 
Negro  population  more  than  doubles  the  whites  was 
13  in  1860,  14  in  1870,  18  in  1880,  23  in  1890,  and 
27  in  1900.  In  the  same  interval  the  counties  in 
which  the  Negro  constitutes  the  majority  had  risen 
from  43  to  67.  This  does  not  imply  that  the  white 
population  in  the  Southern  States  is  not  holding  its 
own ;  but  the  growth  of  the  two  races  seems  to  be 
toward  fixed  bounds  of  habitation. 

Numerous  causes  are  cooperating  toward  this  end. 
The  white  man  avoids  open  competition  with  the 
black  workman  and  will  hardly  condescend  to  com- 
pete with  him  on  equal  terms.  Wherever  white  men 
and  women  have  to  work  for  their  living,  they  arro- 
gantly avoid  those  sections  where  they  are  placed  on 
a  par  with  Negro  competitors,  and  if  indigenous  to 
such  localities  they  often  migrate  to  regions  where 
the  black  rival  is  less  numerous.  For  this  reason 
European  immigration  avoids  the  black  belts  as  an 
infected  region.  The  spectacle  of  black  and  white 
artisans  working  side  by  side  at  the  same  trade,  of 
which  we  used  to  hear  so  much,  is  rapidly  becoming  a 
thing  of  the  past.  The  line  of  industrial  cleavage  is 
almost  as  sharp  as  social  separation.  The  white  man 
does  not  desire  to  bring  up  his  family  amidst  a  Negro 
environment.  The  lynchings  and  outrages  and  the 
rumors  of  crime  and  cruelty  have  the  effect  of  intimi- 
dating the  white  residents  in  the  midst  of  black  sur- 
roundings, who  move  away  as  rapidly  as  they  can 
find  it  expedient  to  do  so.  Only  a  few  Jewish  mer- 
chants and  large  planters  are  left.  The  large  plan- 
tations are  becoming  less  and  less  profitable,  and  are 
being  broken  up  and  let  out  to  colored  tenants,  to 
enable  the  landlord  to  move  to  the  city,  where  he  finds 
more  congenial  social  environment  for  himself  and 
children. 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN  165 

The  rise  and  development  of  manufacturing  indus- 
tries in  the  South  also  add  emphasis  to  the  same 
tendency.  The  poor  whites  are  being  drawn  off  in 
considerable  numbers  from  the  rural  districts  as  op- 
eratives and  workmen  along  lines  of  higher  mechani- 
cal skill.  In  the  black  belts  the  Negro  is  protected 
by  the  masses  around  him.  One  may  ride  for  hours 
in  many  portions  of  the  South  without  meeting  a 
white  face.  The  great  influx  of  Negroes  into  the 
large  cities  comes  from  regions  where  the  Negro  is 
thinly  scattered  among  the  whites,  rather  than  from 
the  regions  of  greatest  density.  These  factors, 
operating  separately  and  cooperating  conjointly, 
will  perpetuate  these  black  belts  of  the  South.  The 
bulk  of  the  Negroes  seems  destined  to  be  gathered 
into  these  dark  and  dense  areas. 

If,  therefore,  we  are  accorded  so  large  a  measure 
of  prevision,  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  arrange  our 
plans  in  harmony  with  the  social  movement  which 
we  have  not  the  power  to  subvert.  The  first  essential 
of  a  well-ordered  society  is  good  government,  which 
affords  satisfaction  to  the  people  living  under  it. 
The  Negroes  in  the  South  are  not  satisfied  with  the 
present  mode  of  government,  not  only  because  it  was 
not  formulated  in  harmony  with  their  sensibilities, 
but  because  it  lamentably  fails  to  protect  life 
and  property.  Perhaps  there  is  no  other  government 
of  European  type  which  so  ruthlessly  disregards  the 
rights  and  feelings  of  the  governed  since  the  efface- 
ment  of  the  Boer  republics  in  South  Africa.  The 
first  need  of  the  South  is  a  brand  of  statesmanship 
with  capacity  to  formulate  a  scheme  of  government 
which  will  command  the  hearty  good  will  and  cheerful 
cooperation  of  all  the  citizens,  and  at  the  same  time 
leave  the  controlling  power  in  the  hands  of  those  best 
qualified  to  wield  it.   This  is  the  desideratum  devoutly 


166  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

to  be  wished.  The  amiable  African  can  be  ruled 
much  more  effectively  by  the  wand  of  kindness  than 
by  a  rod  of  iron.  Strange  to  say,  Southern  states- 
manship has  never  seriously  tested  this  policy. 
European  powers  in  control  of  tropical  races  have 
found  that  reconciliation  is  essential  to  effective  con- 
trol. The  weaker  element  must  feel  that  they  are  a 
constituent  part  of  the  governmental  order  and  are 
responsible  for  the  maintenance,  authority  and  disci- 
pline. But  Southern  statesmanship  has  been  charac- 
terized by  broken  pledges  and  bad  faith  and  open 
avowal  to  humiliate  a  third  of  the  population.  The 
Democratic  party  claimed  to  have  won  the  election 
in  1876  upon  a  platform  which,  in  clearly  avowed 
terms,  accepted  the  amendments  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  But  the  Democratic  States 
forthwith  proceeded  to  revise  their  constitutions  with 
the  undisguised  purpose  of  defeating  the  plain  in- 
tendment of  these  amendments.  This  on  the  plea 
that  if  the  Negro  were  eliminated  from  politics,  the 
government  should  be  equitable  and  just,  guaran- 
teeing to  all  equality  before  the  law.  But  as  soon  as 
these  plans  are  adopted  the  very  statesmen  who  were 
most  instrumental  in  bringing  them  to  pass  are  urg- 
ing more  drastic  and  dreadful  measures.  They  are 
demanding  the  repeal  of  the  Fourteenth  and  Fif- 
teenth Amendments,  which,  by  indirect  tactics,  they 
have  already  annulled.  Has  the  Negro  any  reason  to 
feel  that  the  demanded  appeal  would  stop  this  reac- 
tionary movement?  There  can  never  be  peace  and 
securitj'  and  permanent  prosperity  for  whites  or 
blacks  until  the  South  develops  a  brand  of  states- 
manship that  rises  above  the  pitchfork  variety. 

The  next  great  need  of  these  black  belts  is  moral 
and  industrial  regeneration.  This  can  be  effected 
only   through   the   quickening   touch   of   education. 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN  167 

Outside  help  is  absolutely  necessary.  These  people 
unaided  can  no  more  lift  themselves  from  a  lower  to 
a  higher  level  than  one  can  sustain  the  weight  of  his 
body  by  pulling  against  his  own  bootstraps.  The 
problem  belongs  to  the  nation.  Ignorance  and  deg- 
radation are  moral  blights  upon  the  national  life  and 
character.  They  are  wasteful  of  the  national  resource. 
The  cotton  area  is  limited,  and  cotton-stuff  will  be- 
come more  and  more  an  important  factor  in  our  na- 
tional, industrial  and  economic  scheme.  And  yet 
thousands  of  acres  of  these  valuable  cotton  lands  are 
being  washed  away  and  wasted  annually  by  ignorant 
and  unskilled  tillage.  The  nation  is  contemplating 
the  expenditure  of  millions  of  dollars  to  irrigate  the 
arid  regions  of  the  West.  But  would  it  not  be  a  wiser 
economic  measure  to  save  the  cotton  area  of  the 
South  through  the  enlightenment  of  the  peasant 
farmers?  The  educational  facilities  in  the  black 
counties  outside  of  the  cities  are  almost  useless.  The 
reactionary  current  against  the  education  of  the 
Negro  in  the  South  is  deep  and  strong.  Unless  the 
nation,  either  through  statesmanship  or  philanthropy, 
lends  a  helping  hand,  these  shade  places  will  form  a 
continuing  blot  upon  the  national  escutcheon.  There 
should  be  better  school  facilities  and  social  opportuni- 
ties, not  only  as  a  means  of  their  own  betterment,  but 
in  order  that  contentment  with  the  rural  environment 
to  which  they  are  well  suited  may  prevent  them  from 
flocking  into  the  cities,  North  and  South,  thus  form- 
ing a  national  municipal  menace. 

The  Negro's  industrial  opportunties  lie  in  the 
black  belts.  He  occupies  the  best  cotton,  tobacco, 
rice  and  sugar  lands  of  the  South.  The  climate 
shields  him  from  the  crushing  weight  of  white 
competition.  Agriculture  lies  at  the  base  of  the  life 
of  any  undeveloped  race.     The  manufacturing  stage 


168  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

is  a  later  development.  The  exclusion  of  the  Negro 
from  the  factories  is  perhaps  a  blessing  in  disguise. 
The  agricultural  industries  of  the  South  are  bound 
to  become  of  greater  and  greater  national  importance 
and  the  Negro  is  to  become  a  larger  and  larger  in- 
dustrial factor.  The  cotton  area  is  limited,  but  the 
demand  for  cotton  stuffs  increases  not  only  with  the 
growth  of  our  own  national  population,  but  with  the 
expansion  of  our  trade  in  both  hemispheres.  A 
shrewd  observer  has  suggested  that  the  time  seems 
sure  to  come  when  a  pound  of  cotton  will  be  worth  a 
bushel  of  wheat.  When  cotton  regains  its  ancient 
place  and  again  becomes  king,  the  Negro  will  be 
the  power  behind  the  throne. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  from  the  last  census  the 
extent  to  which  Negroes  are  owning  and  managing 
their  own  farms.  The  large  estates  are  being  broken 
up  into  small  farms  and  let  out  to  Negro  tenants  at 
a  higher  rate  of  annual  rental.  This  is  but  the  first 
step  toward  Negro  proprietorship.  There  is  a  double 
field  for  philanthropy.  First,  to  furnish  school  facil- 
ities so  that  the  small  farmer  may  become  intelligent 
and  skilled  in  the  conduct  of  his  affairs ;  and  second, 
to  make  it  possible  for  him  to  buy  small  tracts  of 
land.  The  holders  of  the  old  estates  do  not  care  to 
atomize  their  plantations,  but  would  gladly  dispose 
of  their  entire  holdings.  There  is  a  vast  field  for 
philanthropy  with  the  additional  inducement  of  five 
per  cent.  Already  such  attempts  have  been  made. 
Some  Northern  capitalists  have  undertaken  such  a 
movement  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tuskegee  Institute, 
which  promises  to  have  far-reaching  effect  upon  the 
betterment  of  black  belt  conditions.  There  are  also 
indications  of  Negro  villages  and  industrial  settle- 
ments to  afford  better  social  and  business  opportuni- 
ties.    Colored  men  of  ambition  and  education  will  be 


THE    LAND    OF    GOSHEN  169 

glad  to  seek  such  communities  as  a  field  to  exploit 
their  powers.  The  secret  and  method  of  New  Eng- 
land may  thus  be  transplanted  in  these  darksome 
places  by  the  sons  of  Ethiopia.  Thus  those  that  now 
grope  in  darkness  may  yet  receive  the  light. 

Mr.  John  Temple  Graves  has,  in  a  recent  notable 
utterance,  advocated  the  separation  of  the  races,  and 
has  elaborated  his  doctrine  with  great  rhetorical 
pains.  But  mass  movement  of  the  Negro  race  seems 
clearly  to  indicate  immediate,  if  not  the  ultimate,  out- 
come to  be  separateness  rather  than  separation. 

No  one  can  tell  what  the  ultimate  future  of  the 
Negro  is  to  be ;  whether  it  is  to  be  worked  out  in  this 
land  or  on  some  distant  continent.  We  may,  how- 
ever, be  permitted  to  foretell  the  logical  outcome  of 
forces  now  at  work,  without  assuming  the  prophet's 
prerogative. 


SURPLUS    NEGRO    WOMEN 

A  notable  article  entitled  "  The  Duty  of  Surplus 
Women,"*  by  Mrs.  Charlotte  Perkins  Gilman,  excites 
a  deep  and  abiding  interest.  The  original  and  unique 
suggestion  that  judicious  migration  from  regions  of 
less  to  regions  of  greater  masculine  density  might 
form  a  panacea  for  matrimonial  helplessness,  will 
doubtless  delight  the  heart  of  spinsterdom.  The 
practical  wisdom  of  the  suggestion  has  the  sanction 
of  historical  precedent  and  high  social  prestige.  Did 
not  the  forlorn  maidens  of  old  England  brave  the 
dangers  of  the  deep  in  response  to  the  matrimonial 
demand  of  a  thriving  colony?  The  thrifty  farmer, 
restive  under  enforced  bachelorhood,  eagerly  re- 
sorted to  the  market  place,  and  gladly  exchanged  his 
precious  pounds  of  tobacco  for  the  priceless  boon  of 
a  bride. 

But  Mrs.  Gilman's  article  seems  to  contemplate 
only  that  fraction  of  the  female  world  implied  in  the 
somewhat  doleful  soliloquy :  "  Here  I  am,  free,  white 
and  twenty-one  (or  over?)"  What  of  the  lot  of 
those  surplus  women  who  are  not  white,  and  not  so 
very  free?  Is  the  ennobling  sisterhood  of  woman  to 
be  limited  to  the  color  line?  The  struggle  of  the  col- 
ored woman  toward  purity  and  refinement  involves 
as  deep  and  as  dark  a  tragedy  as  any  that  marks  the 
history  of  human  strivings.  If  any  would  gain  a 
true  knowledge  of  the  inner  soul  of  black  folks,  let 
him  contemplate  the  position  of  their  women,  whose 
pathetic  situation  must  fill  the  soul  with  infinite  pity. 

The   enormous   preponderance   of  colored   females 
over  males,  especially  in  our  large  cities,  is  a  persist- 
*  New  York  Independent,  January,  1905. 
170 


SURPLUS    NEGRO    WOMEN 


171 


ent  and  aggravating  factor  which  has  almost  wholly 
escaped  the  attention  of  our  sociological  philoso- 
phers. The  census  of  1900  gives  4,447,568  Negro 
females  against  4,393,221  Negro  males,  leaving  an 
excess  of  54,347  of  the  gentler  sex  in  the  United 
States.  This  gives  a  residue  of  thirteen  left-over 
women  to  each  thousand  of  the  male  population. 
But  this  is  utterly  insignificant  when  compared  with 
the  excesses  revealed  by  the  statistics  of  the  large 
cities.  The  predominance  of  the  female  element  is 
perhaps  the  most  striking  phenomenon  of  the  urban 
Negro  population. 

The    subjoined   figures    will   show    this    excess    in 
fifteen  cities  of  more  than  20,000  Negroes. 

Excess  of  Colored  Females,   1900 


CITY 

Females 

Males 

Excess 

of 
females 

No.  females 

to  each 

100  males 

Washington 

Baltimore 

New  Orleans 

Philadelphia 

New  York 

Memphis 

Louisville 

Atlanta 

48,354 
44,195 

42,585 
33,673 
33,534 
25,359 
20,297 
20,921 
18,020 
17,878 
17,552 
16,775 
14,077 
15,344 
10,738 

38,348 
35,063 
35,129 
28,940 
27,132 
24,551 
18,842 
14,806 
17,496 
14,354 
13,970 
13,269 
16,073 
12,746 
9,492 

10,006 
9,132 
7,456 
4,733 
6,402 
808 
1,455 
6,115 
524 
3,524 
3,582 
3,506 

*1,996 
2,598 
1,246 

126 
126 
121 
116 
124 
103 
108 
143 

St.  Louis 

Richmond 

Charleston 

Nashville 

103 
123 
125 
125 

88 

Savannah  

Norfolk 

120 
113 

Total, 

379,312 

320,221 

59,091 

118 

These  cities  with  an  aggregate  Negro  population 
of  699,533  show  a  female  excess  of  59,091.     Chicago 
is  the  only  city  where  the  females  are  not  in  the  ma- 
*  Surplus    Males. 


172  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

jority,  which  is  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  a  new 
city  is  always  first  settled  by  the  men,  who  pave  the 
way  for  a  subsequent  female  influx.  If  every  Negro 
male  in  these  cities  should  be  assigned  a  helpmeet 
there  would  still  remain  eighteen  left-over  females  for 
every  one  hundred  couples.  In  Atlanta  this  unfor- 
tunate residue  reaches  the  startling  proportion  of  43 
out  of  a  hundred.  Washington  and  Baltimore  have 
respectively  10,006  and  9,132  hopeless  females,  for 
whom  there  are  neither  present  nor  prospective  hus- 
bands. No  such  astounding  disproportion  prevails 
anywhere  among  the  white  race.  The  surplus  women 
who  give  Mrs.  Gilman  such  anxious  solicitude  scarcely, 
exceed  one  in  a  hundred  even  in  such  man-forsaken 
cities  as  New  York  and  Boston.  If  then  the  evil  be 
a  threatening  one  among  the  white  race  with  such  an 
insignificant  surplus,  what  must  be  said  of  its  multi- 
plied enormity  when  we  turn  to  the  situation  of  the 
black  race,  where  the  excess  is  more  than  one-sixth 
of  the  male  sex?  Preponderance  of  one  sex  over  the 
other  forbodes  nothing  but  evil  to  society.  The  mal- 
adjustment of  economic  and  social  conditions  upsets 
the  scale  where  nature  intended  a  balance.  The  argu- 
ment of  Mrs.  Gilman  is  as  correct  as  it  is  courageous. 
"  Where  women  preponderate  in  large  numbers,"  she 
says,  "  there  is  a  proportionate  increase  in  immo- 
rality, because  women  are  cheap ;  where  men  prepon- 
derate in  large  numbers  there  is  also  immorality  be- 
cause women   are  dear." 

This  argument  is  perfectly  general  in  its  scope, 
and  has  special  application  to  the  Negro  only  because 
aggravated  conditions  add  a  graver  emphasis.  These 
left-over,  or  to-be-left-over,  Negro  women,  falling  as 
they  do  in  large  part  in  the  lower  stratum  of  society, 
miss  the  inhibitive  restraint  of  culture  and  social 
pride,  and,  especially  if  they  be  comely  of  appear- 


SURPLUS    NEGRO    WOMEN  173 

ance,  become  the  easy  prey  of  the  evil  designs  of 
both  races.  The  question  is  a  painfully  delicate  one. 
It  is  a  disordered  nature  that  delights  in  stirring  up 
filth  for  the  sake  of  its  stench.  The  only  justification 
for  holding  up  such  a  dark  and  forbidden  picture  to 
the  gaze  of  the  world  is  that  a  clear  knowledge  of 
the  enormity  of  the  evil  may  lead  to  the  consideration 
of  constructive  measures   of  relief. 

The  problem  is  for  the  most  part  an  economic  one, 
and  the  treatment  must  partake  of  the  nature  of  the 
disease.  It  is  easier  to  account  for  this  unfortunate 
condition  than  it  is  to  propose  a  remedy.  Negro 
women  rush  to  the  city  in  disproportionate  numbers, 
because  in  the  country  there  is  little  demand  for  such 
services  as  they  can  render.  They  cannot  remain  at 
the  hard,  bone-breaking  labor  of  the  farm.  The 
compensation  of  rural  workers  is  so  meager  that  the 
male  alone  cannot  earn  a  reasonable  livelihood  for  the 
whole  family.  The  girls,  when  they  are  of  age  and 
become  conscious  of  their  great  deprivations,  are  en- 
ticed away  by  the  glare  and  glitter  of  the  city  life. 
They  would  escape  the  ills  they  have  by  fleeing  to 
those  they  know  not  of.  The  situation  is  anomalous. 
The  Negro  man  has  no  fixed  industrial  status  in  the 
cities.  He  loiters  around  the  ragged  edge  of  indus- 
try, and  is  confined  to  the  more  onerous  and  less 
attractive  modes  of  toil.  He  who  gives  up  the  free- 
dom and  independence  of  rural  life  to  drive  an  ash 
cart  or  dig  in  a  city  sewer  surely  is  not  wise.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Negro  woman  finds  an  unlimited 
field  of  employment  in  the  domestic  and  household 
industries.  These  surplus  women  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  migrate  back  to  the  country  in  quest  of 
marriage.  They  have  just  fled  from  the  material 
poverty  and  social  dearth  of  rural  environment,  and 
it  is  not  likely  that  they  will  give  up  the  flesh  pots  of 


174  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  city  for  the  dreary  drudgery  from  which  they 
have  just  escaped. 

In  order  to  forestall  mischievous  misinterpretation, 
it  seems  necessary  to  say  that  which  should  need  no 
saying;  namely,  that  the  upward  ambition  and  as- 
piration of  colored  women  is  the  most  encouraging 
indication  of  Negro  life.  The  women  of  any  race  are 
the  conservators  of  its  moral  stamina,  which  in  turn 
lies  back  of  all  social  progress.  Any  one  who  gains 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  better  side  of  Negro  life 
must  be  deeply  impressed  with  the  evident  superior- 
ity, of  the  progressive  colored  women  over  the  average 
man  of  like  opportunity.  This  superiority  is  mani- 
fested not  only  in  cultivation  and  character,  but  in 
their  fearless  and  aggressive  attitude  toward  race 
rights  and  privileges.  In  many  instances  they  are 
forced  to  a  life  of  perpetual  spinsterhood  because  of 
a  dearth  of  men  of  the  requisite  ambition  and  pro- 
gressive spirit.  But  we  should  not  allow  our  appre- 
ciation of  the  advancement  of  the  upper  ten  to  render 
us  oblivious  of  the  needs  and  necessities  of  the  lower 
ninety. 

The  great  bulk  of  colored  women  in  our  cities, 
being  shut  out  from  higher  avenues  of  work,  must 
seek  employment  in  domestic  service.  A  study  of  the 
occupation  of  colored  women  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, where  the  attainments  of  the  upper  ten  have 
been  widely  exploited,  will  throw  much  light  on  this 
subject. 

Occupation  of  Colored  Females  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  1900 

All    occupations     23,448 

Domestic   and  personal  service    21,018 

Dressmaking    and    needlework    1,617 

Professional    service     519 

All   other   occupations    294 


SURPLUS    NEGRO    WOMEN  175 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  nearly  one-half  of  the 
females  are  engaged  in  gainful  occupations,  a  circum- 
stance which  tells  its  own  story.  There  are  ten 
thousand  surplus  women  of  color  at  the  National 
Capital;  this  fact,  together  with  the  low  economic 
status  of  the  men,  renders  it  imperative  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  women  should  enter  the  great 
bread-winning  contest.  Seven-eighths  of  them  are 
engaged  in  domestic  and  personal  service.  The  519 
assigned  to  professional  service  are  mainly  engaged 
in  teaching.  These  figures  show  us  plainly  the  field 
in  which  these  women  must  labor  for  all  time  that  we 
have  the  data  to  foresee.  If  we  take  the  country  at 
large  it  will  be  found  that  the  Negro  woman  is  con- 
fined almost  exclusively  to  agricultural  and  domestic 
pursuits  as  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood. 

Colored  Females  Employed  in  the  United 
States,  1900 

All    occupations     1,316,872 

Domestic  and   personal  service    681,947 

Agriculture     582,001 

Professional  service    15,601 

All   other  occupations    37,323 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  for  the  entire  country 
domestic  service  absorbs  fifty-two  per  cent,  of  this 
class  of  wage  earners.  In  the  cities  it  constitutes 
almost  the  exclusive  avenue  of  remunerative  work. 

If  we  take  the  Negro  race  as  a  whole,  male  and 
female,  it  will  be  found  that  out  of  3,998,963  en- 
gaged in  all  occupations,  2,143,176  are  agricul- 
tural workers  and  1,324,160  are  found  in  domestic 
and  personal  service ;  these  two  fields  of  effort  fur- 
nished a  livelihood  for  86  per  cent,  of  the  entire  race. 
It  is  a  hard,  but  nevertheless  a  painful,  concrete  fact, 


176  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

that  an  intolerant  spirit  effectually  shuts  out  the 
Negro  from  manufacturing  industries  and  from  trade 
and  transportation.  The  two  great  industrial  prob- 
lems before  the  Negro  are  (1)  to  gain  greater  effi- 
ciency in  the  two  available  lines  of  industry,  and  (2) 
to  press  upon  the  borders  of  the  higher  mechanical 
and  industrial  pursuits  in  quest  of  larger  opportunity. 

But  when  we  restrict  attention  to  the  status  of  the 
colored  women  in  the  large  cities  we  find  that  they 
are  shut  in  to  a  single  line  of  remunerative  activity. 
Here  is  a  field  of  labor  which  is  large,  wide  open, 
and  undisputed.  There  is  little  danger  that  the 
Negro  domestic  will  be  banished  from  the  household 
by  white  competition,  unless  on  the  score  of  superior 
efficiency.  The  ultra-fashionable  may  indulge  in  the 
fad  of  English  servants,  but  in  the  long  run  the 
Negro  will  be  found  to  return  to  favor.  The  colored 
woman  possesses  sacrificial  virtues  and  altruistic  de- 
votion in  the  highest  degree.  In  her  ignorant  and 
degraded  condition  she  was  able  to  take  the  children 
of  her  refined  mistress,  and  by  the  wealth  of  her 
natural  affection,  foster  for  herself  a  fondness  and  an 
endearment  sometimes  beyond  that  they  bore  their 
own  mothers.  She  still  possesses  that  sacrificial  qual- 
ity which  gives  her  the  preference,  even  though  she 
falls  short  in  point  of  competency,  in  close  personal 
and  subordinate  relations.  The  immediate  pressing 
problem  growing  out  of  the  situation  is  how  to  make 
these  women  more  competent  and  efficient  in  this 
broad  field  of  labor. 

There  should  be  in  every  city  with  a  large  Negro 
population  a  school  of  domestic  service  whose  scheme 
of  training  should  be  of  such  simple  and  easy  char- 
acter as  to  be  available  to  every  girl  of  moderate 
intelligence  and  ambition.  This  would  indeed  be 
industrial  education  that   counts.     It  is   preparing 


SURPLUS    NEGRO    WOMEN  177 

laborers  for  a  field  that  is  already  white  unto 
harvest.  There  can  be  no  dispute  as  to  the  ad- 
vantage and  even  the  necessity  of  such  training. 
There  is  no  adequate  agency  at  present  devoted  to 
this  task.  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  do  not  aim  to 
accomplish  it  any  more  than  do  Fisk  and  Howard. 
In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  the  problem  is  a  local 
one  and  must  be  worked  out  by  local  agencies.  Here 
is  a  wide  field  for  practical  philanthropy  based  upon 
sound  economy.  A  project  looking  forward  to  the 
higher  efficiency  of  domestic  service  in  our  large 
cities  must  command  the  good  will  and  hearty  co- 
operation of  all  elements,  white  and  black,  whatever 
their  school  of  belief  or  social  opinion.  There  should 
be  more  strenuous  and  vigilant  activity  to  guard 
these  girls  against  the  dangers  of  sordid  city  asso- 
ciation, and  to  surround  them  with  wholesome  moral 
and  religious  environment.  There  is  no  problem  of 
our  city  life  to-day  that  appeals  more  imperatively 
to  the  religious  and  charitable  agencies  that  are  de- 
voted to  civic  righteousness  and  social  purity.  But 
after  all  has  been  said  and  done  the  treatment  can 
only  be  temporary  and  palliative.  Society  cannot 
contemplate  with  satisfaction  the  permanence  of  any 
considerable  body  of  unmarried  women,  whose  ex- 
istence is  indeed  without  "excuse  or  explanation,"  in 
either  social  or  divine  economy.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  either  city  conditions  will  so  improve  that  men 
will  be  attracted  in  sufficient  numbers  to  claim  the 
surplus  city  spinsters,  or  that  country  conditions  will 
so  improve  that  they  will  gladly  avail  themselves  of 
rural  matrimonial  opportunities. 

The  large  and  remunerative  field  of  domestic  serv- 
ice has  not  received  adequate  attention  on  the  part 
of  the  leaders  of  the  colored  race.  The  contemptuous 
attitude  of  the  more  favored  of  this  race  toward  this 


178  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

department  of  labor  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  low 
estimate  in  which  such  service  and  servants  are  held. 
This  feeling  is  but  a  survival  or  reaction  of  the  in- 
fluence of  slavery,  which  taught  the  Negro  to  despise 
all  those  with  whom  work  was  a  necessity.  He  saw 
all  dignity  and  honor  and  glory  attach  to  those  who 
neither  toiled  nor  spun.  Even  to-day  it  is  hard  for 
the  average  Negro  to  have  much  respect  for  a  white 
man  who  works  with  his  hands,  or  to  think  of  him  as 
other  than  "  po'  white  trash."  Slavery  inculcated 
the  drudgery,  but  not  the  gospel  of  work.  This  ser- 
vile estimate  of  labor  is  still  potent  and  persistent. 
That  all  labor  is  honorable  is  a  formal  phrase  rather 
than  a  serious  feeling  with  the  average  Southerner, 
white  or  black.  The  few  Negroes  whom  circum- 
stances enabled  to  rise  swiftly  above  the  level  of 
menial  labor,  not  unnaturally,  brought  forward  the 
traditional  attitude  of  contempt  for  those  left  below. 
Menial  service  served  and  serves  as  a  reminder  of 
the  old  relationship  of  master  and  slave.  A  sharp 
line  of  cleavage  suddenly  developed  between  the 
favored  few  and  the  less  fortunate  many.  There  was 
an  absence  of  that  sympathetic  relationship  and 
mutuality  of  good-will  that  prevails  in  a  well-estab- 
lished order  where  different  ranks  and  social  grades 
are  recognized  and  understood. 

Some  Negroes  still  hesitate  to  advocate  prepara- 
tion for  domestic  service  for  fear  of  being  accused  of 
proposing  menial  service  for  the  whole  race.  The 
whites  who  persist  in  limiting  the  Negro's  function 
in  society  to  the  servile  sphere  impel  them  to  this 
hesitant  attitude.  But  the  plain  demands  of  the 
situation  require  the  application  of  sanity  and  com- 
mon sense.  Class  differentiation  is  becoming  a  recog- 
nized phenomenon  of  Negro  development.  No  one 
formula  of  treatment  can  be  applied  to  these  nine 


SURPLUS    NEGRO    WOMEN  179 

million  people  with  such  varied  aptitudes  and  oppor- 
tunities. The  mutual  dependence  of  the  more  for- 
tunate and  the  less  favored — of  the  upper  ten  and 
the  lower  ninety — is  gaining  a  wide  and  deeper 
appreciation.  More  than  half  of  the  Negro  women 
who  are  forced  to  earn  a  living  are  employed  in  the 
domestic  industries.  The  bulk  of  the  following  of 
the  great  Catholic  Church  in  America  falls  among 
those  who  are  engaged  in  the  humbler  spheres  of 
service,  but  many  of  them  are  rapidly  gaining 
wealth,  and  power,  and  fame.  The  wise  and  far- 
seeing  leadership  of  this  great  organization  discour- 
ages estrangement  between  the  high  and  low,  learned 
and  ignorant,  rich  and  poor,  who  are  of  the  same 
household  of  faith.  Nor  are  the  humble  workmen  led 
to  despise  their  lowly  calling,  but  rather  to  dignify 
their  office  by  diligence  and  fidelity  to  duty.  A  more 
enlightened  leadership  among  the  Negroes  will  as- 
sume a  similar  attitude  toward  the  toiling  masses 
who  look  for  wise  guidance  and  direction.  Those  who 
have  been  benefited  must  become  enlarged  so  as  to 
appreciate  the  obligation  that  opportunity  confers ; 
while  those  who  are  left  in  the  humbler  places  must 
be  encouraged  to  become  workmen  "  that  maketh 
not  ashamed." 

Advocacy  of  adequate  preparation  for  immediate 
and  available  service  on  the  part  of  those  who  can 
secure  no  other  is  in  no  sense  inconsistent  with  the 
higher  needs  and  aspirations  of  the  race.  Every 
American  boy  and  girl  who  is  made  of  true  metal 
will  make  for  the  highest  place  within  the  reach  of 
his  faculties  or  the  range  of  his  opportunities.  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  and  Booker  T.  Washington,  alike, 
will  endeavor  to  procure  for  their  children  the  high- 
est form  of  service  they  are  capable  of  performing. 
The  humblest  citizen  will,  and  ought,  to  do  the  same. 


180  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

What  right  can  be  more  sacred  than  the  right  to 
better  one's  condition?  The  old-fashioned,  homely 
Negro  mother  who  washed  and  ironed  till  her  fingers 
bled  and  burned,  in  order  that  her  children  might 
improve  their  status,  exhibited  a  spirit  that  should 
elicit  the  highest  admiration.  The  Negro  woman  is 
handicapped  by  such  an  unfavorable  environment 
that  it  seems  almost  inhuman  to  make  her  the  butt 
of  witticism  and  ridicule  as  is  sometimes  done,  because 
from  the  depth  of  her  lowliness  she  dares  aspire  to 
the  highest  and  best  things  in  life.  It  is  a  cheap 
philosophy  and  a  false  leadership  that  would  belittle 
or  ridicule  the  higher  aspirations  of  the  least  of 
these.  The  Negro  women  of  our  large  cities,  espe- 
cially the  surplus  fifth,  need  all  the  stimulus  of  high 
ideals  to  sustain  them  under  the  heavy  burdens  which 
unfortunate  social  conditions  compel  them  to  bear. 

These  surplus  women  present  a  pressing  social 
problem  which  calls  for  immediate  and  special  treat- 
ment. The  remedy  suggested  is  not  proposed  as  a 
solution  of  the  vexed  race  problem,  but  merely  as  the 
means  of  simplifying  one  of  its  most  serious  and 
aggravating  factors. 


RISE    OF    THE    PROFESSIONAL    CLASS 

In  a  homogeneous  society  where  there  is  no  racial 
cleavage  only  the  select  members  of  the  favored  class 
occupy  professional  stations.  In  India  it  is  said  that 
the  populace  is  divided  horizontally  by  caste  and  ver- 
tically by  religion;  but  in  America  the  race  spirit 
serves  both  as  a  horizontal  and  vertical  separation. 
The  isolation  of  the  Negro  in  all  social  and  semi- 
social  relations  necessitates  independent  ministrative 
agencies  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  rungs  of  the 
ladder  of  service.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the 
colored  race  demands  that  its  preachers,  teachers, 
physicians  and  lawyers  shall  be  for  the  most  part 
men  of  their  own  blood  and  sympathies.  Strangely 
enough  this  feeling  first  asserted  itself  in  the  church 
—that  organization  founded  upon  the  universal 
fatherhood  of  God  and  brotherhood  of  man.  In  the 
estimation  of  its  founder  there  is  neither  Jew  nor 
Greek,  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  or  free.  Accord- 
ing to  a  strict  construction  of  its  requirements  there 
is  no  difference  in  kind  among  those  who  are  spirit- 
ually akin.  And  yet  the  organic  separation  of  the 
races  first  asserted  itself  in  the  matter  of  religion. 
Whenever  the  colored  adherents  became  sufficiently 
large  to  excite  attention  they  were  set  apart,  either 
in  separate  communion  or  in  separate  assignment  of 
place  in  the  house  of  worship.  When  the  Negro 
worshiper  gained  conscious  self-respect  he  grew  tired 
of  the  back  pews  and  upper  galleries  of  the  white 
churches,  and  sought  places  of  worship  more  com- 
patible with  his  sense  of  freedom  and  dignity.  Hence 
arose  the  Negro  church  and  the  Negro  clergy.     This 

181 


182  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

was  the  first  professional  class  to  arise,  and  still  rela- 
tively the  most  numerous.  The  religious  interests 
of  the  race  are  almost  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the 
colored  clergy.  Outside  of  the  Catholic  Church  it  is 
almost  as  difficult  to  find  a  white  clergyman  over  a 
colored  congregation  as  it  is  to  meet  with  the  reverse 
phenomenon.  The  two  denominations,  Methodists 
and  Baptists,  that  are  wholly  under  Negro  ecclesi- 
astical control,  include  well-nigh  the  entire  colored 
race. 

The  proportional  number  of  church  communicants 
for  the  colored  race  exceeds  that  for  the  white  race. 
In  1890  the  colored  race  had  one  communicant  to 
every  2.79  of  the  Negro  population,  while  the  whites 
had  one  out  of  every  S.04. 

This  vast  host  of  church  members  is  almost  wholly 
under  colored  ecclesiastical  control.  There  is  need 
for  at  least  25,000  trained  men  to  administer  to  the 
spiritual  needs  of  this  multitude.  Herein  lies  one  of 
the  most  powerful  arguments  for  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  select  members  of  the  Negro  race.  The  ten- 
dency of  the  times  is  to  require  of  candidates  for  the 
professions  sound  academic  training  as  a  preparatory 
basis  for  their  professional  equipment.  It  is  idle  to 
say  that  because  the  Negro  race  is  ignorant  and  un- 
developed therefore  its  clergy  need  not  measure  up 
to  the  average  of  professional  requirements.  It 
surely  requires  as  much  discretion,  resourcefulness 
and  sense  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  lowly  as  to  admin- 
ister to  those  who  are  already  exalted.  It  is  true 
that  the  Negroes  have  been  gathered  in  the  church  in 
great  multitudes  under  the  guidance  of  men  who  had 
little  academic  equipment  for  their  work;  but  we 
know  full  well  that  this  is  but  the  first  step  in  their 
spiritual  development,  and  that  their  future  welfare 
requires  not  only  men  of  consecration,  but  men  of 


RISE    OF    PROFESSIONAL    CLASS     18S 

definite  training  for  their  work.  Let  us  not  forget 
also  that  the  Negro  church  has  a  larger  function 
than  the  white  church.  Therefore,  the  Negro  preacher 
must  be  not  only  the  spiritual  leader  of  his  flock, 
but  also  the  general  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend. 
The  rise  of  the  colored  teacher  is  due  almost  wholly 
to  the  outcome  of  the  Civil  War.  The  South  soon 
hit  upon  the  plan  of  the  scholastic  separation  of  the 
races,  and  assigned  colored  teachers  to  colored  schools 
as  the  best  means  of  carrying  out  this  policy.  Hence 
a  large  professional  class  was  at  once  injected  into 
the  arena.  As  the  Negro  preacher  is  responsible  for 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  race,  so  the  Negro  teacher 
is  charged  with  its  intellectual  enlightenment.  The 
2,000,000  Negro  children  of  school  age  constitute 
the  charge  committed  to  the  keeping  of  the  30,000 
Negro  teachers.  There  were  at  the  inception  a  great 
many  white  laborers  who  generously  entered  upon 
this  work,  of  whom  there  still  remains  a  goodly  sprin- 
kling. But  their  function  was  and  is  mainly  to  pre- 
pare colored  men  and  women  for  the  responsible  task. 
It  was  inevitable  that  many  of  the  teachers,  for 
whom  there  was  such  a  sudden  demand,  should  have 
been  illy  prepared  for  the  task  imposed.  It  was 
and  still  is  in  many  cases  a  travesty  upon  terms  to 
speak  of  such  work  as  most  of  these  teachers  were 
able  to  do  as  professional  service.  We  find  here  as 
strong  an  argument  for  the  secondary  and  higher 
education  of  the  Negro  as  was  furnished  by  ecclesi- 
astical necessities.  The  duty  imposed  upon  Negro 
teachers  is  as  onerous  and  requires  as  high  a  degree 
of  knowledge  and  professional  equipment  as  that 
imposed  upon  any  other  class  engaged  in  educational 
work.  The  special  needs  of  their  constituency  call 
for  a  higher  rather  than  a  lower  order  of  training, 
preparation  and  fitness. 


184  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

The  colored  doctor  and  lawyer  have  only  recently 
entered  the  field  in  anything  like  sufficient  numbers 
to  attract  attention.  The  same  spirit  that  demanded 
the  Negro  preacher  has  also  operated  in  favor  of  the 
Negro  doctor.  The  relation  between  patient  and 
physician  is  close  and  confidential.  The  social  bar- 
rier between  the  races  often  operates  against  the 
acceptability  of  a  physician  of  the  opposite  race. 
The  success  of  the  colored  physician  has  often  been 
little  less  than  marvelous. 

The  colored  lawyer  has  not  been  so  fortunate  as 
his  medical  confreres.  The  relation  between  client 
and  attorney  is  not  necessarily  close  and  personal, 
but  partakes  of  a  business  nature.  The  client's  in- 
terest is  also  dependent  upon  the  court  and  jury,  with 
whom  the  white  attorney  is  generally  supposed  to 
have  greater  weight  and  influence.  For  such  reasons 
the  Negro  lawyer  has  not  made  the  headway  that  has 
been  accomplished  in  the  other  professions. 

It  must  be  said  for  the  professions  of  law  and 
medicine  that  the  applicants  are  subjected  to  a  uni- 
form test,  and  therefore  colored  and  white  candidates 
are  on  the  same  footing.  Colored  practitioners, 
therefore,  must  have  a  fair  degree  of  preliminary 
training  and  professional  preparation. 

Macon  B.  Allen  was  the  first  colored  attorney  regu- 
larly admitted  to  practice  in  the  United  States.  He 
was  admitted  in  Maine  in  1844.  It  is  claimed  by 
some  that  the  husband  of  Phyllis  Wheatley  was  a 
lawyer.  Robert  Morris  was  admitted  to  the  Boston 
bar  in  1850,  on  motion  of  Charles  Sumner,  where  he 
practiced  with  splendid  success  until  his  death,  in 
1882.  Prof.  John  M.  Langston  was  admitted  to  the 
Ohio  bar  in  1854.  James  Durham  was  born  a  slave 
in  Philadelphia  in  1762.  His  master  was  a  surgeon. 
He  purchased  his   freedom   and  became  one  of  the 


RISE    OF    PROFESSIONAL    CLASS     185 

most  noted  physicians  in  New  Orleans.  His  practice 
is  said  to  have  been  worth  $3,000  a  year.  The 
following  account  attests  the  success  of  a  black 
physician : 

"  Dr.  David  Ruggles,  poor,  blind,  and  an  invalid, 
founded  a  well-known  water-cure  establishment  in  the 
town  where  I  write  (Northampton,  Mass.),  erected 
expensive  buildings,  won  fashionable  distinction  as  a 
most  skillful  and  successful  practitioner,  secured  the 
warm  regard  and  esteem  of  this  community,  and  left  a 
name  established  in  the  hearts  of  many  who  feel  that 
they  owe  their  life  to  his  skill  and  careful  practice." 

Dr.  John  V.  Degrass  was  admitted  in  due  form  as 
a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society  in 
1854. 

The  above  are  only  samples  of  Negroes  in  the 
learned  professions  before  the  Civil  war.  Of  course, 
there  was  a  large  number  of  ministers  and  teachers. 
Out  of  such  meager  beginnings  has  grown  the  great 
number  of  professional  colored  men  and  women  of 
to-day. 

The  colored  preachers  are  quite  as  numerous  in 
proportion  to  the  population  as  the  white,  and  in 
some  cases  more  so.  In  West  Virginia  there  are  425 
white  and  802  blacks  to  each  minister  of  the  re- 
spective races.  One  might  expect  a  preponderance 
of  colored  ministers  for  two  reasons:  (1)  There  is  a 
larger  relative  church  membership;  and  (2)  the  col- 
ored population  has  not  more  than  half  the  density 
of  that  of  the  white  in, the  area  under  consideration. 
In  the  State  of  Missouri,  for  example,  735  colored 
preachers  cover  the  same  territory  as  3,439  white 
ministers ;  and  while  each  of  the  former  has  on  an 
average  375  persons  to  the  parish  to  the  latter's  735, 


186  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

yet  his  geographical  area  is  five  times  as  extensive. 
If  we  turn  to  the  States  where  the  Negroes  predomi- 
nate we  may  expect  to  find  a  reversal  of  conditions. 
In  Mississippi  and  South  Carolina  the  colored  parish 
is  smaller  in  area  but  more  populous  than  that  of  the 
whites.  The  clerical  demand  of  the  Negro  population 
is  fully  supplied  in  a  numerical  sense,  albeit  there  is 
much  need  for  a  higher  standard  of  professional 
equipment  for  its  most  arduous  and  delicate  duties. 

In  no  case  has  the  colored  race  as  many  teachers 
in  proportion  to  the  population  as  the  white.  In 
some  cases,  like  South  Carolina  and  Alabama,  the 
disproportion  is  glaring,  the  number  of  persons  to 
each  teacher  being  217  to  775  in  the  former,  and  262 
to  718  in  the  latter,  in  favor  of  the  more  fortunate 
race.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the  number  of 
persons  to  each  teacher  does  not  necessarily  represent 
the  actual  distribution  of  work  between  the  races  ;  for 
it  is  known  that  in  every  Southern  State  there  are 
white  teachers  working  among  colored  people.  These 
are  mainly  in  private  and  philanthropic  schools,  how- 
ever, and  do  not  materially  affect  the  general  equa- 
tion, or  rather  the  inequality,  of  educational  condi- 
tions. If  we  take  geographical  conditions  into 
account,  and  the  fact  that  the  two  sets  of  teachers 
operate  over  the  same  area,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
disparity  is  greatly  enhanced.  Taking  all  in  all,  it 
appears  that  the  Negro  teaching  force  is  in  no  sense 
adequate  to  the  task  imposed  upon  it. 

The  colored  lawyers  and  doctors  form  so  small  a 
proportion  of  the  general  population  as  scarcely  to 
merit  mention  as  a  professional  class.  In  Texas 
there  is  one  Negro  doctor  in  9,000  and  one  Negro 
lawyer  in  40,000  of  the  population,  while  in  South 
Carolina  there  are  22,000  and  29,000  Negroes  to  a 
colored  practitioner  in  the  respective  professions.   In 


RISE    OF    PROFESSIONAL    CLASS     187 

Alabama  there  is  one  black  doctor  to  look  over  24,000 
patients,  and  each  colored  lawyer  has  52,000  clients. 
The  work  in  these  professions  is  conducted  mainly 
by  the  whites,  although  the  twelfth  census  will  un- 
doubtedly show  a  large  increase  in  the  colored  prac- 
tioners.  Where  numbers  are  small,  proportions  are 
sensitive.  The  number  of  persons  to  each  practi- 
tioner will  be  materially  reduced.  The  argument 
which  we  sometimes  hear  that  Negroes  are  leaving 
the  farm  and  shop  to  rush  into  the  learned  profes- 
sions is  not  borne  out  by  the  collected  facts  in  the 
case.  In  Alabama,  for  instance,  only  one  Negro  in 
50,000  has  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law  and  one 
in  25,000  upon  the  profession  of  medicine.  While 
it  is  true  that  there  is  no  large  demand  for  colored 
men  in  these  professional  pursuits,  especially  outside 
of  the  large  centers,  nevertheless  the  steady  progress 
of  the  people  in  property,  intelligence,  and  diversi- 
fied material  and  commercial  interests  calls  for  a  con- 
servative increase  in  the  number  of  professional 
colored  men  both  in  medicine  and  in  law. 

It  cannot  be  claimed  that  the  colored  race  has 
developed  superlative  names  in  the  several  profes- 
sions. There  are  not  a  few  ministers  of  piety  and 
eloquence.  The  teacher  in  the  public  service  must 
maintain  the  average  proficiency  of  the  system  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  white  superintendents.  The 
Negro  lawyers  are  in  open  competition  with  their 
white  colaborers,  and  must  render  satisfactory  serv- 
ice, else  they  would  have  no  clients.  Colored  physi- 
cians generally  have  a  good  record  for  professional 
skill  and  integrity.  There  is  no  movement  affecting 
the  lot  and  life  of  the  colored  race  so  suggestive  of 
its  educational  needs  as  the  relative  size  of  the  pro- 
fessional class. 


EMINENT    NEGROES 

The  individual  is  the  proof  of  the  race,  the  first 
unfoldment  of  its  potency  and  promise.  The  glory 
of  any  people  is  perpetuated  and  carried  forward  by 
the  illustrious  names  which  spring  from  among  them. 
As  we  contemplate  the  great  nations  and  peoples, 
whether  of  the  ancient  or  of  the  modern  world,  their 
commanding  characters  rise  up  before  us,  typifying 
their  contribution  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  hu- 
man race.  On  the  contrary,  no  people  can  hope  to 
gain  esteem  and  favor  which  fails  to  produce  dis- 
tinguished individuals  illustrative  and  exemplary  of 
its  possibilities. 

For  four  centuries  the  African  race  has  been 
brought  in  contact  with  the  European  in  all  parts 
of  the  globe.  This  contact  has  not  been  of  an  en- 
nobling character,  but  of  the  servile  sort,  affording 
little  opportunity  for  the  development  of  those  quali- 
ties which  the  favored  races  hold  in  esteem.  And 
yet  there  have  arisen  from  this  dark  and  forbidding 
background  not  a  few  striking  individual  emanations. 
This  race,  through  a  strain  of  its  blood,  has  given  to 
Russia  her  national  poet  and  to  France  her  most  dis- 
tinguished romancer.  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  the 
Negro  patriot,  is  the  most  commanding  historical 
figure  of  the  entire  West  Indian  Archipelago.  In 
South  America  persons  of  Negro  blood  have  gained 
the  highest  political  and  civil  renown. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  deals  with  backward  peoples  on 
a  different  basis  from  the  Latin  races.  While  he  has 
a  keener  sense  of  justice  and  is  imbued  with  a  spirit 
of  philanthropic  kindness,  yet  he  builds  up  a  barrier 

188 


EMINENT    NEGROES  189 

between  himself  and  them  which  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  overcome.  To  him  personal  solicitude  and 
good  will  and  racial  intolerance  are  not  incompatible 
qualities.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Latin  races,  while 
possessing  a  much  lower  order  of  general  efficiency, 
accept  on  equal  terms  all  who  conform  to  the  pre- 
vailing standards.  Under  the  Latin  dispensation 
color  offers  not  the  slightest  bar  to  the  individual 
who  exhibits  high  qualities  of  mind  or  soul.  We  need 
not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  that  the  colored 
men  who  have  reached  the  highest  degree  of  fame 
should  have  sprung  from  the  Latin  civilization.  The 
persons  of  African  blood  who  are  most  nearly  com- 
parable with  names  of  the  first  order  of  renown 
among  Europeans  are  Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  of 
Haiti ;  Alexander  Pushkin,  of  Russia ;  Alexander 
Dumas,  of  France.  In  France,  Italy  or  Spain  color 
is  only  a  curious  incident.  The  Afro-American, 
therefore,  belongs  in  a  category  by  himself.  His 
circumstances  and  conditions  are  so  different  from 
those  of  his  European  brother  that  although  of  the 
same  color  they  are  not  of  the  same  class. 

Several  lists  of  distinguished  colored  men  have 
been  prepared,  the  most  important  of  which,  perhaps, 
was  published  by  Abbe  Gregoire,  and  was  prepared 
to  answer  the  argument  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
others,  who  undertook  to  prove  the  Negro's  intel- 
lectual inferiority.  This  work  contains  accounts  of 
Negroes  in  all  countries  who  have  reached  eminence 
and  distinction  in  all  lines  of  endeavor.  An  account 
of  the  part  played  by  colored  men  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  contains  the  deeds  and  achievements  of 
noted  Negroes.  Rev.  William  J.  Simmons  brings  the 
former  work  nearer  to  date  and  includes  many  col- 
ored men  now  living.  A  list  of  distinguished  colored 
women  has  also  been  compiled. 


/ 


190  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Numerous  magazine  articles  have  appeared  on  this 
subject  from  time  to  time.  The  two  which  are  per- 
haps of  the  greatest  importance,  and  which  include 
the  substance  of  the  rest,  appeared  in  the  Interna- 
tional Quarterly  Review  and  in  the  North  American 
Review. 

An  interesting  syllabus  has  recently  been  prepared 
by  Mr.  A.  O.  Stafford  on  "  Negro  Ideals,"  which 
gives  a  good  outline  of  the  efforts  of  the  Negro 
toward  better  things. 

It  is  with  some  hesitancy  that  a  few  names  of  the 
more  distinguished  Afro-Americans  are  here  pre- 
sented. In  such  a  restricted  list  it  is  inevitable  that 
many  should  be  omitted  who  are  equally  worthy  as 
some  who  are  mentioned.  The  names  here  presented 
have  not  been  selected  because  of  general  distinction, 
but  rather  for  technical,  artistic,  and  intellectual 
achievements  in  the  scholastic  sense. 

Only  those  have  been  included  of  whose  achieve- 
ments the  world  takes  account.  There  is  no  name  in 
the  list  which  may  not  be  found  in  Appleton's  Cyclo- 
pedia of  American  Biography.  Nothing  is  great  or 
small  except  by  comparison.  The  names  here  pre- 
sented are  at  least  respectable  when  measured  by 
European  standards.  It  is  true  that  no  one  of  them 
reaches  the  first,  or  even  the  second  degree  of  luster 
in  the  galaxy  of  the  world's  greatness.  The  com- 
peting number  has  been  so  insignificant  and  the  social 
atmosphere  has  been  so  repressive  to  their  budding 
aspirations  that  it  would  be  little  short  of  a  miracle 
of  genius  if  any  member  of  this  race  had  reached  the 
highest  degree  of  glory.  It  is  true  that  if  not  one 
of  these  had  ever  been  born  the  bulk  and  quantity  of 
science,  literature,  and  art  would  not  be  appreciably 
affected. 

While  these  contributors  must  be  measured  in  terms 


EMINENT    NEGROES  191 

of  European  standards  in  order  that  there  may  be  a 
sane  and  rational  basis  of  comparison,  yet  there  is 
another  measure  which  takes  account  of  the  struggles 
and  strivings  out  of  which  they  grew.  In  the  light 
of  European  comparison  it  appears  that  they  repre- 
sent more  than  the  marvelous  vision  of  a  one-eyed 
man  among  the  blind,  but  rather  the  surprising  visual 
power  of  a  one-eyed  man  among  two-eyed  men.  The 
significance  of  these  superior  manifestations,  how- 
ever, must  not  be  measured  solely  by  their  intrinsic 
value.  They  serve  both  as  an  argument  and  an 
inspiration.  They  show  the  American  people  that 
the  Negro,  at  his  best,  is  imbued  with  their  own  ideas 
and  strives  after  their  highest  ideals.  To  the  Negro 
they  serve  as  models  of  excellence  to  stimulate  and 
encourage  his  hesitant  and  disheartened  aspirations. 
One  will  be  struck  by  the  versatility  and  range  of 
names  in  the  list.  They  cover  well-nigh  every  field 
of  human  excellence.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the 
imitative  and  esthetic  arts  predominate  over  the  more 
solid  and  severe  intellectual  acquisitions.  Is  this  not 
the  repetition  of  the  history  of  culture?  The  poet 
and  the  artist  precede  the  scientist  and  the  engineer. 
The  meager  fruitage  does  not?  furnish  cause  for 
self-complacent  glorification  on  the  part  of  the  Ne- 
gro, but  is  only  an  index  of  the  promise  of  the  tree 
of  which  they  are  the  initial  bearings.  With  its 
extended  range  and  scope,  the  rising  generation  can 
look  upon  them  in  the  light  of  promise  rather  than 
fulfilment. 

"  That  which  they  have  done  but  earnest  of  the  things  that 
we  shall  do." 

Phyllis  Wheatley  was  born  in  Africa  and  was 
brought  to  America  in  1761.  She  was  bought  from 
the  slave  market  by  John  Wheatley,  of  Boston,  and 


192  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

soon  developed  remarkable  acquisitive  faculties.  In 
sixteen  months  from  her  arrival  she  could  read  Eng- 
lish fluently.  She  soon  learned  to  write,  and  also 
studied  Latin.  She  visited  England  in  1774  and  was  A 
cordially  received.  After  returning  tlb  Boston  she 
corresponded  with  Countess  Hunting^n,  the  Earl 
of  Dartmouth,  Rev.  George  Whitfield,  and  others, 
and  wrote  many  poems  to  her  friends.  She  ad- 
dressed some  lines  to  General  George  Washington, 
which  were  afterward  published  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Magazine  for  April,  1776.  General  Washington 
wrote  a  courteous  response  and  invited  her  to  visit 
the  Revolutionary  headquarters,  which  she  did,  and 
was  received  with  marked  attention  by  Washington 
and  his  officers.  Her  principal  publications  are  "  An 
Elegiac  Poem  on  the  Death  of  George  Whitfield  " ; 
"  Poems  on  Various  Subjects,  Religious  and  Moral," 
published  in  London  in  1773,  and  republished  as 
"  The  Negro  Equalled  by  Few  Europeans,"  two  vol- 
umes, Philadelphia,  1801.  The  letters  of  Phyllis 
Wheatley  were  printed  in  Boston  in  1864,  collected 
from  the  proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Histori- 
cal Society. 

Benjamin  Banneker  was  born  November  9,  1731, 
near  Ellicotts  Mill,  Md.  Both  his  father  and  grand- 
father were  native  Africans.  He  attended  a  private 
school  which  admitted  several  colored  children  along 
with  the  whites.  Although  his  early  educational  fa- 
cilities were  scanty,  young  Banneker  soon  gained  a 
local  reputation  as  a  miracle  of  wisdom.  In  1770  he 
constructed  a  clock  to  strike  the  hours,  the  first  to 
be  made  in  America.  This  he  did  with  crude  tools 
and  a  watch  for  his  model,  as  he  had  never  seen  a 
clock.  Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Ellicott,  who 
was  a  gentleman  of  cultivation  and  taste,  he  gained 
access  to  his  valuable  collection  of  books,  and  was 


EMINENT    NEGROES  193 

thus  inducted  into  the  study  of  astronomy.  In  this 
study  he  gained  great  proficiency,  and  constructed 
an  almanac  adapted  to  the  local  requirements  of 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  Maryland.  This  was  the 
first  almanac  constructed  in  America,  and  was  pub- 
lished by  Goddard  &  Angell,  Baltimore.  Banneker's 
Almanac  was  published  annually  from  1792  to  1806, 
the  year  of  his  death.  It  contained  the  motions  of 
the  sun  and  moon;  the  motions,  places,  and  aspects 
of  the  planets ;  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun,  and 
the  rising,  setting,  southing,  place,  and  age  of  moon, 
etc.,  and  is  said  to  have  been  the  main  dependence  of 
the  farmers  in  the  region  covered.  He  lived  mainly 
from  the  royalties  received  from  this  publication. 
Banneker  sent  a  copy  of  this  almanac  to  Thomas 
Jefferson,  which  elicited  a  flattering  acknowledg- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  philosopher  and  statesman. 
Banneker  assisted  the  commissioners  in  laying  out 
the  lines  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  A  life  of  Ban- 
neker was  published  by  Hon.  J.  H.  B.  Latrobe,  Bal- 
timore, 1845,  and  another  by  J.  S.  Norris,  1854. 
That  Thomas  Jefferson  believed  in  the  intellectual 
capacity  of  the  Negro  and  appreciated  the  force  of 
the  argument  that  the  treatment  of  this  race  found 
justification  in  its  assumed  low  state  of  mental  possi- 
bility is  revealed  by  his  letter  to  Benjamin  Banneker, 
the  black  astronomer: 

Sir: 

I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your  letter  of  the  19th  instant 
and  for  the  almanac  it  contained.  Nobody  wishes  more  than 
I  do  to  see  such  proofs  as  you  exhibit  that  nature  has  given 
to  our  black  brethren  talents  equal  to  those  of  the  other 
colors  of  men,  and  that  the  appearance  of  a  want  of  them  is 
owing  merely  to  the  degraded  condition  of  their  existence, 
both  in  Africa  and  America.  I  can  add  with  truth  that  no- 
body wishes  more  ardently  to  see  a  good  system  commenced 
for   raising  the   condition  both  of  their  body   and   mind   to 


194  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

what  it  ought  to  be  as  fast  as  the  imbecility  of  their  pres- 
ent existence  and  other  circumstances  which  cannot  be  neg- 
lected will  admit.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  sending  your 
almanac  to  M.  de  Condorcet,  secretary  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  of  Paris  and  member  of  the  Philanthropic  Society, 
because  I  considered  it  as  a  document  to  which  your  color  had 
a  right  for  their  justification  against  the  doubts  which  have 
been  entertained  of  them. 

I  am,  with  great  esteem,  sir, 

Your   most   obedient   humble    servant, 

Thomas    Jefferson. 
Ma.   Benjamin   Banneker, 

Near  Ellicotts  Lower  Mills,  Baltimore  County. 


Lemuel  Haynes  was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  July 
18,  1753.  His  father  was  an  African,  his  mother  a 
white  woman.  He  received  his  honorary  degree  of 
A.M.  from  Middlebury  College  in  1804.  After  com- 
pleting a  theological  course  he  preached  at  various 
places  and  settled  in  West  Rutland,  Vt.,  in  1788, 
where  he  remained  for  thirty  years  and  became  one 
of  the  most  popular  preachers  in  the  State.  He  was 
characterized  by  a  subtle  intellect,  keen  wit,  and 
eager  thirst  for  knowledge.  His  noted  sermons  from 
Genesis  3  and  4  were  published  and  passed  through 
nine  or  ten  editions.  His  controversy  with  Hosea 
Ballou  became  of  worldwide  interest.  The  life  of 
Lemuel  Haynes  was  written  by  James  E.  Cooley, 
New  York,  1848. 

Ira  Aldridge  was  born  at  Belair,  Md.,  about  1810. 
There  is  some  dispute  as  to  the  exact  composition  of 
his  blood;  some  claim  that  he  was  of  pure  African 
descent,  while  others  contend  that  he  was  of  mixed 
extraction.  He  was  early  brought  in  contact  with 
Mr.  Kean,  the  great  tragedian,  and  in  1826  accom- 
panied him  to  Europe.  Mr.  Kean  encouraged  his 
dramatic  aspiration,  and  on  one  occasion,  at  least, 
permitted  him  to  appear  as  Othello,  while  he  himself 


EMINENT    NEGROES  195 

took  the  part  of  Iago.  As  an  interpreter  of  Shake- 
speare he  was  very  generally  regarded  as  one  of  the 
best  and  most  faithful.  He  appeared  at  Covent 
Gardens  as  Othello  in  1833,  and  in  Surrey  Theater  in 
1848.  On  the  Continent  he  ranked  as  one  of  the 
greatest  tragedians  of  his  time.  Honors  were  show- 
ered upon  him  wherever  he  appeared.  He  was  pre- 
sented by  the  King  of  Prussia  with  the  first-class 
medal  of  arts  and  sciences,  accompanied  by  an  auto- 
graph letter  from  the  Emperor  of  Austria ;  the  Grand 
Cross  of  Leopold;  a  similar  decoration  from  the 
Emperor  of  Russia,  and  a  magnificent  Maltese  cross, 
with  the  medal  of  merit,  from  the  city  of  Berne. 
Similar  honors  were  conferred  by  other  crowned 
heads  of  Europe.  He  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Prussian  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  holder 
of  the  large  gold  medal ;  member  of  the  Imperial  and 
Arch  Ducal  Institution  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Manger 
in  Austria ;  of  the  Russian  Hof-Versamlung  of  Riga ; 
honorary  member  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  many  others. 
Aldridge  appeared  with  flattering  success  in  Amster- 
dam, Brussels,  Berlin,  Breslau,  Vienna,  Pesth,  The 
Hague,  Dantzic,  Konigsberg,  Dresden,  Berne,  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  Cracow,  Gotha,  and  numerous 
other  cities  in  the  leading  parts  of  the  standard  plays 
of  the  times.  He  was  an  associate  of  the  most  promi- 
nent men  of  Paris,  among  whom  was  Alexander, 
Dumas.  When  these  two  met  they  always  kissed 
each  other,  and  Dumas  always  greeted  Aldridge  with 
the  words  "  mon  confrere."  Aldridge  died  in  Lodz, 
in  Poland,  in  1867. 

Col.  George  W.  Williams  was  born  in  Pennsylvania 
in  1849.  He  was  educated  in  public  and  private 
schools  and  completed  his  theological  training  at 
West  Newton  Theological  Seminary.     His  "  History 


196  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

of  the  Negro  Race  in  America  "  is  the  sole  existing 
authority  on  the  subject  of  which  it  treats,  and 
forms,  without  doubt,  as  valuable  a  literary  monu- 
ment as  any  yet  left  by  a  colored  man. 

Paul  Lawrence  Dunbar  died  while  a  young  man, 
being  under  thirty  years  of  age.  He  made  an  im- 
pression on  American  literature  that  can  never  be 
effaced.  He  published  "  Oak  and  Ivy,"  "  Majors 
and  Minors,"  "  Lyrics  of  Lowly  Life,"  and  "  Lyrics 
of  the  Hearthstone,"  together  with  half  a  dozen 
volumes  of  fiction  and  short  stories.  Several  of  his 
works  have  been  reprinted  in  England.  Speaking  of 
his  early  poems,  William  Dean  Howells  says :  "  Some 
of  these  (poems  in  literary  English)  I  thought  very 
good.  What  I  mean  is,  several  people  might  have 
written  them,  but  I  do  not  know  any  one  else  at 
present  who  could  quite  have  written  his  dialect 
pieces.  There  are  divinations  and  reports  of  what 
passes  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  a  lowly  people  whose 
poetry  had  hitherto  been  inarticulately  expressed, 
but  now  finds,  for  the  first  time  in  our  tongue,  liter- 
ary interpretation  of  a  very  artistic  completeness." 

Henry  O.  Tanner,  son  of  Bishop  B.  T.  Tanner,  of 
the  African  Methodist  Church,  was  born  in  Pitts- 
burg, Pa.,  in  1859.  His  early  educational  oppor- 
tunities were  good,  having  studied  at  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  and  subsequently  at 
Paris.  His  pictures  have  been  hung  on  the  line  in 
many  a  salon  exhibition,  and  now  the  government  of 
France  has  crowned  the  long  list  of  medals  and  prizes 
which  Mr.  Tanner  has  received  by  buying  one  of  his 
most  important  works,  "  The  Raising  of  Lazarus," 
for  the  Luxembourg  Gallery.  The  picture  has  already 
been  hung  in  the  Luxembourg  Gallery,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  will  naturally  be  transferred  to  the 
Louvre.     Other  notable  pictures  by  the  same  artist 


EMINENT    NEGROES  197 

are  "  Nicodemus,"  owned  by  the  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts,  Philadelphia ;  "  The  Annunciation,"  which  now 
hangs  in  the  Memorial  Hall,  Philadelphia ;  "  The  Be- 
trayal," in  the  Carnegie  Gallery,  at  Pittsburg. 

Dr.  Daniel  H.  Williams,  of  Chicago,  is  widely 
known  throughout  the  medical  profession.  He  has 
performed  several  noted  operations  that  taxed  the 
skill  of  surgical  science.  In  1897  Dr.  Williams  per- 
formed an  operation  on  account  of  a  stab  wound  of 
the  heart  and  pericardium,  a  report  of  which  pub- 
lished in  the  Medical  Record,  March  27,  1897,  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  entire  medical  and  sur- 
gical fraternity,  and  was  reprinted  in  the  medical 
journals  of  nearly  every  country  and  language.  It 
has  also  been  referred  to  in  most  recent  works  on 
surgery,  especially  in  "  International  Text  Book 
on  Surgery  "  and  Da  Costa's  "  Modern  Surgery." 

An  article  on  "  Ovarian  Cysts  in  Colored  Women," 
by  Dr.  Williams,  published  in  the  Philadelphia  Med- 
ical Journal,  December  29,  1900,  had  for  its  purpose 
the  refutation  of  the  idea  that  had  been  almost  uni- 
versal among  surgeons,  that  colored  women  did  not 
have  ovarian  tumors.  The  record  of  the  cases  col- 
lected by  Dr.  Williams  furnishes  sufficient  data  to 
sustain  his  contention.  It  is  also  shown  in  this  article 
that  the  same  may  be  said  of  fibrous  tumors.  This 
article  has  been  considered  of  such  value  to  the  pro- 
fession that  it  has  been  copied  extensively  in  medical 
literature,  and  notably  in  some  of  the  best  German 
and  French  medical  journals. 

Dr.  Williams  has  performed  various  important 
operations  that  have  been  published  in  medical  jour- 
nals and  widely  commented  upon  in  the  medical  world. 
He  was  surgeon-in-chief  of  the  Freedmen's  Hospital 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  from  1893  to  1897. 

Charles  W.  Chestnut  was  born  in  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


198  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

By  his  own  effort  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  court  stenog- 
rapher. Mr.  Chestnut  has  written  several  works  of 
fiction  which,  according  to  competent  critics,  place 
him  among  the  foremost  story-tellers  of  the  time. 
"  The  Wife  of  My  Youth,"  "  The  House  Behind  the 
Cedars,"  and  "  The  Marrow  of  Tradition  "  are  pub- 
lished by  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston,  Mass. 

Prof.  W.  S.  Scarborough  was  born  in  Georgia  in 
1852,  was  graduated  from  Oberlin  College  in  1875, 
and  is  President  of  Wilberforce  University.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Philological  Society  and 
of  the  Modern  Language  Association.  He  has  pub- 
lished "  First  Lessons  in  Greek  "  (New  York,  1881), 
and  the  "  Theory  and  Functions  of  the  Thematic 
Vowel  in  the  Greek  Verb." 

Prof.  W.  E.  B.  DuBois  was  born  in  Massachusetts 
about  forty  years  ago.  He  was  graduated  from 
Fisk  University  and  subsequently  from  Harvard, 
after  which  he  studied  two  years  in  Germany  and 
earned  his  Ph.D.  degree  from  Harvard.  He  has 
been  a  teacher  in  Wilberforce  University,  associate 
in  sociology  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
professor  of  history  and  political  economy  at  Atlanta 
University.  His  chief  works  are  "  The  Suppression 
of  the  African  Slave  Trade,"  published  in  the  Har- 
vard Historical  Series ;  "  The  Philadelphia  Negro," 
published  under  the  auspices  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania ;  "  The  Souls  of  Black  Folk  " ;  and 
numerous  special  studies  and  investigations  that  have 
appeared  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Atlanta  confer- 
ences and  the  bulletins  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  as 
well  as  sundry  magazine  articles.  Mr.  DuBois  has 
done  more  to  give  scientific  accuracy  and  method  to 
the  study  of  the  race  question  than  any  other  Ameri- 
can who  has  essayed  to  deal  with  it. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  while  the  Negro  pos- 


EMINENT   NEGROES  199 

sesses  the  imitative  he  lacks  the  initiative  faculty; 
that  while  he  can  acquire  what  has  already  been  ac- 
cumulated, he  cannot  inquire  into  the  unrevealed 
mystery  of  things.  As  an  illustration  of  how  easy 
it  is  for  the  achievements  of  the  Negro  to  escape  his 
fellow  co-laborers,  the  following  incident  may  be  re- 
garded as  typical.  The  Patent  Office  sent  out  cir- 
culars inquiring  as  to  the  number  and  extent  of  col- 
ored patentees.  One  of  the  leading  patent  attorneys 
responded  that  he  had  never  heard  of  the  Negro  in- 
venting anything  except  lies ;  yet  the  Patent  Office 
records  reveal  250  colored  patentees  and  more  than 
400  patents.  Many  of  these  show  the  highest  inge- 
nuity and  are  widely  used  in  the  mechanical  arts. 

Granville  T.  Woods  was  born  in  Ohio,  and  is  fifty 
years  old.  He  has  more  than  thirty  patents  to 
his  credit.  Mr.  Woods  is  the  inventor  of  the  elec- 
tric telephone  transmitter,  which  he  assigned  to  the 
American  Bell  Telephone  Company  for  a  valuable 
consideration.  The  transmitter  is  used  in  connection 
with  all  the  Bell  telephones. 

Elijah  McCoy,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  has  taken  out 
thirty  patents,  mainly  devoted  to  the  improvement  of 
lubricating  devices  for  stationary  and  locomotive 
machinery.  His  inventions  are  in  general  use  on  loco- 
motive engines  of  leading  railways  in  the  Northwest, 
on  the  Lake  steamers,  and  on  railways  in  Canada. 

There  are  numerous  colored  people  who  have 
achieved  distinction  in  fields  calling  for  practical 
energy,  moral  courage,  sound  intelligence,  and  intel- 
lectual resource.  Mr.  Frederick  Douglass  and  Prof. 
Booker  T.  Washington  are,  in  general  average  of 
distinction,  the  most  renowned  of  their  race,  although 
their  fields  of  exertion  are  not  mainly  intellectual,  in 
the  academic  sense  of  the  term — and  yet  Mr.  Doug- 
lass was  one  of  the  most  eminent  American  orators, 


200  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

and  his  autobiography  forms  an  integral  part  of  the 
literature  of  the  anti-slavery  struggle;  and  Mr. 
Washington's  "  Up  from  Slavery  "  is  one  of  the  most 
popular  books  printed  in  the  first  year  of  the  twen- 
tieth century.  As  Mr.  Douglass's  life  is  woven  in 
the  warp  and  woof  of  the  great  epoch  ending  in  the 
Civil  War,  so  Mr.  Washington's  life  and  work  have 
become  a  vital  part  of  current  educational  literature, 
and  his  place  in  the  history  of  education  is  assured. 


WHAT  WALT  WHITMAN  MEANS   TO   THE 
NEGRO 

Walt  Whitman  is  the  poet  of  humanity.  He 
sings  the  song  universal  for  all  who  suffer,  love,  and 
hope.  No  class  or  clique  or  clan  can  lay  claim  to 
him  and  say,  "  He  is  mine."  To  his  "  feast  of  rea- 
son and  flow  of  soul  "  he  invites  all  mankind. 

"Of  every  hue  and  caste  am  I,  of  every  rank  and  religion.** 

The  processes  of  nature  are  uniform  in  their  opera- 
tions and  apply  with  equal  favor  to  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  men.  The  rain  falls,  the  grass  grows 
and  the  sun  shines  kindly  alike  for  all  who  place 
themselves  in  harmonious  relations  to  their  beneficent 
design.  And  so  comes  Walt  Whitman,  adorning  him- 
self to  bestow  himself  upon  whoever  will  accept  him, 
scattering  his  good  will  freely  over  all. 

As  we  ascend  higher  and  higher  in  the  scale  of 
moral  and  spiritual  excellence,  the  ephemeral  distinc- 
tions among  men,  based  for  the  most  part  upon  arro- 
gance and  pride,  grow  fainter  and  fainter,  and 
finally  vanish  away.  The  great  moral  and  spiritual 
teachings  of  mankind  have  always  reprobated  the 
spirit  of  caste.  Buddha  teaches :  "  There  is  no  caste 
in  blood,  which  runneth  of  one  hue ;  nor  caste  in  tears, 
which  trickle  salt  withal." 

It  was  revealed  to  the  Apostle  Peter  in  a  vision  that 
he  should  not  call  any  man  common  or  unclean.  St. 
Paul,  viewing  mankind  from  his  spiritual  altitude, 
saw  "  neither  Greek  nor  Jew,  Barbarian  nor  Scyth- 

201 


RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

ian,  bond  nor  free."  It  is  but  natural  to  expect 
exalted  sentiments  from  Walt  Whitman,  for  he,  too, 
dwells  upon  "  the  radiant  summit."  From  this  lofty 
elevation  he  looks  with  equal  eye  on  all  below.  He 
announces  himself  "  meeter  of  savages  and  gentlemen 
on  equal  terms."  True,  it  does  not  require  the  gift 
of  inspiration  to  establish  the  identity  of  all  men 
when  reduced  to  their  lowest  terms.  Even  so  unspirit- 
ually  minded  a  poet  as  Shakespeare  recognizes  the 
sameness  of  the  fool  and  the  philosopher  in  their  final 
physical  analysis.  But  Whitman's  conception  of 
equality  is  all-comprehensive  in  its  scope;  it  is  not 
limited  to  the  lower  plane  of  animal  existence,  but 
extends  to  the  higher  region  of  spiritual  kinship. 
Specifying  the  circumstances  of  his  spiritual  illumi- 
nation with  the  definiteness  of  a  Methodist  convert, 
he  tells  us: 

"  Swiftly  arose  and  spread  around  me  the  peace  and  knowl- 
edge that  pass  all  the  argument  of  the  earth, 
And  I  know  that  the  hand  of  God  is  the  promise  of  my  own, 
And  I  know  that  the  spirit  of  God  is  the  brother  of  my  own, 
And   that  all   the  men  ever  born  are   also  my  brothers,   and 

the  women  my  sisters  and  lovers, 
And  that  a  kelson  of  the  creation  is  love." 

His  cosmic  breadth  of  view  is  no  shallow  senti- 
mentality or  vain  intellectual  pretense,  but  is  based 
upon  the  unifying  power  of  the  love  of  God. 

Let  no  favored  fraction  of  the  human  family  fancy 
that  they  find  in  him  their  pet  poet  or  special  pleader. 
He  himself  rebukes  such  unwarranted  presumption: 

"  No  friend  of  mine  takes  his  ease  in  my  chair ; 
I  have  no  chair,  no  church,  no  philosophy." 

There  is  no  variety  of  the  human  race  that  cannot 
find  in  him  that  which  is  adapted  to  its  peculiar 
needs. 


WALT    WHITMAN  203 

Compelled  by  circumstances  to  view  all  objects  un- 
der a  racial  angle  of  vision,  the  Negro,  not  unnat- 
urally, seeks  in  Whitman  some  peculiar  significance 
and  specialty  of  meaning.  The  automorphic  ten- 
dency is  so  strongly  rooted  in  human  nature  that  a 
people  are  apt  to  form  their  ideals  in  their  own 
image  and  stamp  upon  them  the  impress  of  their  own 
physical  and  social  peculiarities.  This  circumstance 
renders  any  type  unsuited  to  artistic  or  literary  uses 
among  a  people  of  different  "  clime,  color  and  de- 
gree." "  Shakespeare,"  says  a  learned  critic,  "  ought 
not  to  have  made  Othello  black,  for  the  hero  of  a 
tragedy  ought  to  be  white."  But  Walt  Whitman  tells 
us  that  in  his  literary  treatment  he  does  not  "  sepa- 
rate the  learn'd  from  the  unlearn'd,  the  Northerner 
from  the  Southerner,  the  white  from  the  black." 

As  the  Negro  is  portrayed  in  modern  literature,  he 
usually  plays  a  servile,  contemptible  or  ridiculous 
role.  He  is  sometimes  used  to  point  a  moral,  but 
seldom  to  adorn  a  tale.  We  find  the  Negro  appear- 
ing in  several  forms  of  literature. 

1.  In  the  unadorned,  didactic  discussions  of  the 
race  problem  which  have  filled  our  newspapers,  maga- 
zines, and  book-stalls,  both  in  anti-slavery  times  and 
since  the  war.  Such  works  are  mainly  preceptive  in 
their  aim,  and,  strictly  speaking,  cannot  be  called 
literature  at  all. 

2.  In  the  dialect  story  he  is  portrayed  as  being 
ignorant,  superstitious,  degraded  and  clownish,  cut- 
ting jim-crow  capers  and  apish  antics  for  the  amuse- 
ment and  delight  of  white  lookers-on.  By  a  strange 
literary  inconsistency,  however,  he  is  made  to  express 
the  wisest  philosophy  in  the  crudest  forms  of  speech. 
If  there  be  any  virtue,  or  if  there  be  any  praise, 
ascribed  to  him,  it  is  of  the  unaspiring,  sycophantic, 
servile  sort,  leaving  the  world  to  believe  of  the  race 


204  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

that   "  their   morals,   like   their   pleasures,    are   but 
low." 

3.  In  anti-slavery  poetry  the  Negro  is  pictured  in 
his  pitiable  helplessness,  and  is  sometimes  endowed 
with  manly  qualities  and  courage,  to  serve  as  a  more 
effective  object-lesson  of  the  wrongs  and  cruelties  of 
slavery.  Whittier,  Lowell,  and  Longfellow  tuned 
their  lyres  to  human  liberty  and  did  noble  service  for 
freedom  by  means  of  their  songs.  But  on  close  scru- 
tiny we  find  that  for  the  most  part  these  have  the 
patronizing  or  apologetic  tone.  They  are  not  in- 
tended to  please,  but  to  teach.  They  do  not  appeal 
to  the  taste,  but  to  the  moral  judgment.  The  ser- 
monic  purpose  is  apparent  in  every  line.  This  class 
of  poetry  reaches  the  high-tide  mark  in  the  kindly 
conceived  lines  of  the  poet  Cowper,  who,  with  con- 
scious satisfaction  of  feeling,  pays  the  Negro  the 
negative  compliment  of  not  being  outside  of  the  pale 
of  humanity: 

"  Fleecy   locks    and   black   complexion 
Cannot  forfeit  nature's  claim." 

It  is  no  depreciation  of  the  kindly  intent  and  use- 
ful purpose  of  this  class  of  poetry  to  say  that  it  is 
"  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought."  Con- 
trasted with  it,  how  refreshing  are  the  lines  of  Whit- 
man: 

"  You  whoever  you  are ! 
You  daughter  or  son  of  England! 
You  of  the  mighty  Slavic  tribes  and  empires!  you  Russ  in 

Russia ! 
You  dim-descended,  black,  divine-soul'd  African,  large,  fine- 
headed,  nobly-form'd,   superbly  destin'd,   on  equal  terms 
with  me ! " 

4.  In  recent  years  it  has  been  quite  customary  to 
discuss  the  race  question  through  the  agency  of  the 


WALT    WHITMAN  205 

novel.  Authors  of  no  less  distinction  than  Grant 
Allen,  W.  D.  Howells,  and  Paul  Bourget  have  handled 
the  subject  in  this  fashion.  The  Negro  is  made  the 
tragic  representative  of  his  own  fate.  These  stories 
usually  breathe  the  spirit  of  despair  and  death.  They 
hold  up  no  model,  no  ideal,  no  ambition,  no  aspira- 
tion for  the  youth  of  this  race. 

The  growth  and  expansion  of  modern  literature 
is  co-extensive  with  the  rise  and  development  of  Afri- 
can slavery.  This  literature  is  tinged  throughout 
with  the  contemptuous  disdain  for  the  Negro  which 
he  is  made  to  feel  in  all  the  walks  and  relations  of 
life.  In  it  he  finds  himself  set  forth  in  every  phase 
of  ridicule,  and  derided  in  every  mood  and  tense  of 
contempt.  It  appears  in  our  text  books,  in  works  of 
travel,  in  history,  fiction,  poetry,  and  art. 

The  same  spirit  does  not  obtain  in  the  Oriental 
and  classical  literatures.  These  never  refer  to  the 
Negro  except  in  terms  of  endearment  and  respect. 
The  gods  of  Homer  are  not  too  fastidious  to  spend 
a  holiday  season  of  social  intercourse  and  festive  en- 
joyment among  the  blameless  Ethiopians. 

It  is  true  that  many  of  the  choicest  works  of  the 
human  mind  have  been  produced  during  this  modern 
period.  This  literature  possesses  all  of  the  qualities 
which  Macaulay  ascribes  to  the  works  of  Athenian 
genius.  It  is  "  wealth  in  poverty,  liberty  in  bondage, 
health  in  sickness,  society  in  solitude."  "  It  consoles 
sorrow  and  assuages  pain  and  brings  gladness 
to  eyes  which  fall  with  wakefulness  and  tears."  But 
for  the  Negro  to  derive  therefrom  such  wholesome, 
beneficial  effects,  he  must  be  "  self-balanc'd  for  con- 
tingencies," so  as  to  steel  his  feelings  against  rebuff, 
insult,  and  ridicule.  He  must  exercise  the  selective 
instinct,  which  "  from  poisonous  herbs  extracts  the 
healing  dew." 


206  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

The  poet  Virgil  paints  a  pathetic  picture.  After 
the  wandering  iEneas  had  suffered  many  vicissitudes 
by  land  and  sea,  he  came  at  length  to  Tyre,  the  land 
of  the  ill-fated  Dido ;  and  while  waiting  in  the  sacred 
grove  an  audience  with  her  Sidonian  majesty,  he 
feasted  his  mind  on  the  works  of  art  which  embel- 
lished the  temple  of  Juno.  But  when  he  saw,  rep- 
resented in  art,  the  woes  and  miseries  of  his  race; 
when  he  saw  the  Trojan  forces  fleeing  before  the 
Greeks,  and  beheld  the  body  of  the  god-like  Hector 
dragged  around  the  walls  of  Troy,  and  saw  the  aged 
Priam  extending  his  feeble  hands  in  helpless  pity,  his 
heart  failed  him  and  his  eyes  melted  with  tears.  Out 
of  this  pathetic  fullness  of  soul  he  exclaimed  to  his 
faithful  companion  in  woe :  "  O  Achates,  what  spot 
is  there,  what  region  is  there,  throughout  the  whole 
earth,  which  is  not.  full  of  our  misfortunes  ?  " 

Like  father  iEneas,  the  Negro  sees  that  his  woes 
and  misfortunes  are  universal,  confronting  him  every- 
where— in  art  and  literature,  in  statue  and  on  canvas, 
in  bust  and  picture,  in  verse  and  fiction,  in  song  and 
story.  But  in  the  literary  realm  of  Whitman  all  are 
welcome ;  none  are  denied,  shunned,  avoided,  ridi- 
culed, or  made  to  feel  ashamed.  Indeed,  Whitman's 
whole  theory  is  a  protest  against  such  exclusion.  He 
has  in  his  inimitable  way  described  the  degrading 
effects  of  European  literature  upon  America.  This 
degradation  holds  with  added  force  when  we  apply  it 
to  modern  literature  and  the  Negro.  Whitman 
says: 

No  fine  romance,  no  inimitable  delineation  of  character,  no 
grace  of  delicate  illustration,  no  picture  of  shore  or  moun- 
tain or  sky,  no  deep  thought  of  the  intellect,  is  so  important 
to  a  man  as  his  opinion  of  himself  is;  everything  receives  its 
tinge  from  that.  In  the  verse  of  all  those  undoubtedly  great 
writers — Shakspere    just    as   much    as   the    rest — there    is    the 


WALT    WHITMAN  207 

air,  which  to  America  is  the  air  of  death.  The  mass  of  the 
people,  the  laborers  and  all  who  serve,  are  slag,  refuse.  The 
countenances  of  kings  and  great  lords  are  beautiful;  the 
countenances  of  mechanics  ridiculous  and  deformed.  What 
play  of  Shakspere  as  represented  in  America  is  not  an  insult 
to   America,   to   its   marrow  and   to   its   bones? 


As  a  matter  of  course  the  Negro  can  get  no  stand- 
ing in  that  school  of  literature  which  runs  wild  over 
the  "  neck,  hair,  and  complexion  of  a  particular  fe- 
male." 

Walt  Whitman's  poetic  principle  does  not  depend 
upon  superficial  distinctions,  but  upon  the  eternal 
verities.  He  does  not  believe  the  "  jay  is  more  pre- 
cious than  the  lark  because  his  feathers  are  more 
beautiful,  or  the  adder  better  than  the  eel  because  his 
painted  skin  contents  the  eye."  He  is  "  pleased  with 
the  homely  woman  as  well  as  the  handsome."  This 
concession  would  bankrupt  almost  any  other  poet  by 
depriving  him  of  half  of  his  stock  in  trade.  Truly 
his  poems  "  balance  ranks,  colors,  races,  creeds,  and 
sexes."  He  does  not  relegate  the  Negro  to  the  back- 
yard of  literature,  but  lets  him  in  on  the  ground 
floor. 

But  let  none  imagine  that  because  Whitman  in- 
cludes the  weak  as  well  as  the  mighty,  the  lowly  and 
humble  as  well  as  the  high  and  haughty,  the  poor  as 
well  as  the  rich,  the  black  as  well  as  the  white,  that 
he  depreciates  culture,  refinement,  and  civilization. 
Although  he  widens  the  scope,  he  does  not  lower  the 
tone.  True,  he  is  "  no  dainty  dolce  affettuoso."  He 
hates  pruriency,  fastidiousness  and  sham.  "  He  is 
stuff'd  with  the  stuff  that  is  coarse  and  stuff'd  with 
the  stuff  that  is  fine." 

I  know  that  his  bold,  bald  manner  of  expression 
sometimes  grates  harshly  upon  the  refined  sensibil- 
ities of  the  age.     But  he  speaks  with  the  unblushing 


208  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

frankness  of  nature.  To  the  pure  all  things  are 
pure.  "  Leaves  of  Grass  "  must  not  be  judged  by 
isolated  lines,  but  we  must  consider  the  general  drift 
of  its  purpose  and  meaning.  Whitman  does  not  de- 
spise the  perfumeries,  graces,  and  adornments  of 
life,  but  he  will  not  be  intoxicated  by  their  exhala- 
tions. He  maintains  his  soberness  and  sanity  amid 
these  enticing  allurements. 

"  He  says  indifferently  and  alike,  How  are  you,  friend?  to  the 
President  at  his  levee, 
And  he  says,  Good  day,  my  brother,  to  Cudge  who  hoes  in 

the  sugar-field, 
And  both  understand  him  and  know  his  speech  is  right." 

And  yet  he  urges  us  to  preserve  all  the  solid  ac- 
quisitions of  civilization. 

"  Earn  for  the  body  and  for  the  mind  whatever  inheres  and 
goes  forward." 

"  Produce   great   persons,   the   rest    follows." 

"  Charity  and  personal  force  are  the  only  investments  worth 
anything." 

All  truly  great  souls  spend  themselves  in  selfless 
service.  Whitman  would  drag  none  down,  but  would 
lift  all  up.  He  would  ring  in  for  the  world  "  the 
nobler  modes  of  life,  with  purer  manners,  sweeter 
laws."  He  would  bring  mankind  everywhere  "  flush  " 
with  himself. 

America  has  broken  the  shackles  which  bound  four 
millions  of  human  beings  to  a  degraded  life.  But  the 
bondage  of  the  body  is  nothing  compared  with  the 
slavery  of  the  soul.  Whitman  sounds  the  keynote  of 
the  higher  emancipation.  A  great  poet  is  neces- 
sarily a  great  prophet.  He  sees  farthest  because  he 
has  the  most  faith.  The  time  must  come  when  color 
will  not  be  interchanged  for  qualities.     When   all 


WALT    WHITMAN  209 

other  considerations  will  not  wait  on  the  query,  "  Of 
what  complexion  is  he?  " — when  men  and  women 
cease  to  make  graven  images  of  their  physical  idio- 
syncrasies, and  cease  to  bow  down  to  them  and  serve 
them — then  the  accidental  will  yield  to  the  essential, 
the  temporary  and  fleeting  to  those  things  which 
abide. 

The  providence  of  God  is  mysterious  and  inscru- 
table, but  His  ways  are  just  and  righteous  alto- 
gether. Suffering  and  sorrow  have  their  place  in  di- 
vine economy.  If  the  woe  and  affliction  through 
which  this  race  have  passed  but  lead  to  the  unfold- 
ment  of  their  latent  aesthetic  and  spiritual  capabil- 
ities, then  the  glory  of  tribulation  is  theirs.  But  can 
it  be  that  they  are  to  be  forever  the  victims  of  con- 
tempt, caricatured  in  literature,  and  despised  in  all 
the  ennobling  relations  of  life?  Can  it  be  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  race  despicable  in  the  eyes  of 
mankind  that  this  people  have  endured  so  much  and 
suffered  so  long?  Was  it  for  this  that  their  ances- 
tors were  ruthlessly  snatched  from  their  native  land, 
where  they  basked  in  the  sunshine  of  savage  bliss  and 
were  happy?  Was  it  for  this  that  they  endured  the 
hellish  horrors  of  the  middle  passage ;  that  the  ocean 
bed  was  calcimined  with  the  whiteness  of  human 
bones,  and  ocean  currents  ran  red  with  human  blood? 
Was  it  for  this  that  they  groaned  for  three  cen- 
turies under  the  taskmaster's  cruel  lash?  that  their 
human  instincts  and  upward  aspirations  were  brutal- 
ized and  crushed?  Was  it  for  this  that  babes  were 
inhumanly  torn  from  mother's  breasts ;  that  the  holy 
sentiment  of  mother-love — that  finest,  that  divinest 
feeling  which  God  has  embedded  in  the  human  bosom 
— was  stifled  and  smothered?  Was  it  for  this  that 
our  Southland  was  filled  with  sable  Rachels  "  weep- 
ing for  their  children  and  would  not  be  comforted 


210  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

for  they  were  not  "  ?     Was  it  all  for  this  ?     In  the 
name  of  God  I  ask,  was  it  for  this  ? 

Whitman  points  to  a  higher  destiny.  He  looks 
through  the  most  degraded  externals  and  forecasts 
the  glorious  possibilities  of  this  people.  He  leads 
the  Negro  from  the  slave  block  and  crowns  him  with 
everlasting  honor  and  glory. 

"  A  man's  body  at  auction, 
(For  before  the  war  I  often  go  to  the  slave-mart  and  watch 

the   sale), 
I   help   the    auctioneer,   the   sloven   does   not  half   know   his 

business. 
Gentlemen,  look  on  this  wonder, 
Whatever  the  bids  of  the  bidders  they  cannot  be  high  enough 

for  it, 
For  it  the  globe  lay  preparing  quintillions  of  years  without 

one  animal  or  plant, 
For  it  revolving  cycles  truly  and  steadily  roll'd. 
In  this  head  the  all-baffling  brain, 
In  it  and  below  it  the  making  of  heroes, 
Examine  these  limbs,  red,  black,  or  white,  they  are  cunning 

in  tendon  and  nerve, 
They  shall  be  stript  that  you  may  see  them. 
Exquisite  senses,  life-lit  eyes,  pluck,  volition, 
Flakes  of  breast  muscle,  pliant  backbone  and  neck,  flesh  and 

flabby,  good-sized  arms  and  legs, 
And  wonders  within  there  yet. 
Within  there  runs  blood, 

The  same  old  blood !  the  same  red-running  blood ! 
There  swells   and   jets   a   heart,   there  all  passions,   desires, 

Teachings,  aspirations, 
This  is  not  only  one  man,  this  the  father  of  those  who  shall 

be  fathers  in  their  turns, 
In  him  the  start  of  populous  states  and  rich  republics, 
Of    him    countless    immortal    lives    with    countless    embodi- 
ments  and  enjoyments." 

No  Negro,  however  humble  his  present  station,  can 
read  these  lines  without  feeling  his  humanity  stirring 
within  him,  breeding  wings  wherewith  to  soar.   Whit- 


WALT    WHITMAN  211 

man  has  a  special  meaning  to  the  Negro,  not  only 
because  of  his  literary  portrayal ;  he  has  positive  les- 
sons also.  He  inculcates  the  lesson  of  ennobling  self- 
esteem.  He  teaches  the  Negro  that  "  there  is  no 
sweeter  fat  than  sticks  to  his  own  bones."  He  urges 
him  to  accept  nothing  that  "  insults  his  own  soul." 

"  Long  enough  have  you  dream'd   contemptible   dreams, 
Now  I  wash  the  gum  from  your  eyes." 

"  Commence  to-day  to  inure  yourself  to  pluck,  reality,  self- 
esteem,  defmiteness,  elevatedness." 

Surely  he  would  lead  this  race  "  upon  a  knoll." 
He  has  also  taught  his  fellow-men  their  duty  con- 
cerning the  Negro.  Catching  his  inspiration  from 
the  hounded  slave,  he  has  given  the  golden  rule  a 
new  form  of  statement  which  will  last  as  long  as 
human  sympathies  endure: 

"  I  do  not  ask  the  wounded  person  how  he  feels,  I  myself 
become  the  wounded  person." 

"Whoever  degrades  another  degrades  me." 

•  .... _ .':'.'  :  l:3 

He  will  accept  nothing  that  all  cannot  have  a 
counterpart  of  on  equal  terms  with  himself.  Listen 
to  his  "  Thought  " : 

"Of  quality — as  if  it  harm'd  me  giving  others  the  same  chances 
and  rights  as  myself — as  if  it  were  not  indispensable 
to  my  own  rights  that  others  possess  the  same." 

These  are  the  lessons  that  Whitman  would  teach  the 
world. 

But  one  asks,  What  did  he  do  practically  in  his 
lifetime  for  the  Negro?  Beyond  the  fact  that  he 
imbibed   the   anti-slavery   sentiment   of  his   environ- 


212  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

ments,  and  that  this  sentiment  distills  throughout 
"  Leaves  of  Grass,"  I  do  not  know.  Nor  does  it 
matter  in  the  least.  Too  large  for  a  class,  he  gave 
himself  to  humanity.     These  are  his  words : 

"  I  do  not  give  lectures  or  a  little  charity, 
When  I  give,  I  give  myself." 

"  I  give  nothing  as  duties,  what  others  give  as  duties  I  give 
as  living  impulses." 

He  knows  no  race,  but  scatters  his  charity  alike 
over  all  the  families  of  the  earth.  He  believes  in 
Euclid's  axiom  that  the  whole  is  greater  than  any  of 
its  parts.  He  does  not  love  a  race,  he  loves  man- 
kind. 

I  am  a  Christian  and  believe  in  the  saving  merits 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  redeem  mankind,  and  to  exalt  them 
that  are  of  low  degree.     It  is  nevertheless  true  that 

"  In  faith   and  hope  the  world  will  disagree, 
But  all  mankind's  concern  is  charity." 

Whitman  has  given  the  largest  human  expression  of 
this  virtue. 

On  this  first  meeting  of  the  Walt  Whitman  Fellow- 
ship all  men  can  equally  j  oin  in  celebrating  the  merits 
of  their  great  comrade,  who,  in  robust  integrity  of 
soul,  in  intellectual  comprehension  and  power,  in 
catholic  range  of  sympathy,  and  in  spiritual  illumi- 
nation, is  to  be  ranked  among  the  choicest  of  the  sons 
of  men. 


FREDERICK    DOUGLASS 

The  highest  function  of  a  great  name  is  to  serve 
as  an  example  and  as  a  perpetual  source  of  inspira- 
tion to  the  young  who  are  to  come  after  him.  By 
the  subtle  law  known  as  "  consciousness  of  kind "  a 
commanding  personality  incites  the  sharpest  stim- 
ulus and  exerts  the  deepest  intensity  of  influence 
among  the  group  from  which  he  springs.  We  gather 
inspiration  most  readily  from  those  of  our  class  who 
have  been  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities 
and  have  been  subject  to  like  conditions  as  ourselves. 
Every  class,  every  race,  every  country,  and  indeed 
every  well-defined  group  of  social  interests  has  its 
own  glorified  names  whose  fame  and  following  are 
limited  to  the  prescribed  sphere  of  influence.  Indeed, 
human  relations  are  so  diverse  and  human  interests 
and  feelings  so  antagonistic  that  the  names  which 
command  even  a  fanatical  following  among  one  class 
may  be  despised  and  rejected  by  another.  He  who 
serves  his  exclusive  class  may  be  great  in  the  posi- 
tive degree ;  the  man  who  serves  a  whole  race  or  coun- 
try may  be  considered  great  in  the  comparative  de- 
gree ;  but  it  is  only  the  man  who  breaks  the  barrier  of 
class  and  creed  and  country  and  serves  the  human 
race  that  is  worthy  to  be  accounted  great  in  the 
superlative  degree.  We  are  so  far  the  creatures  of 
local  and  institutional  environment,  and  so  disposed 
to  borrow  our  modes  of  thought  and  feeling  from 
our  social  medium,  that  even  an  appeal  to  the  uni- 
versal heart  must  be  adapted  to  the  spirit  and  genius 
of  the  time  and  people  to  whom  it  is  first  made.   Even 

213 


214  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  Saviour  of  the  world  offered  the  plan  of  salva- 
tion first  to  the  Jews  in  the  traditional  guise  of  the 
Hebrew  cult. 

It  is  essential  that  any  isolated,  proscribed  class 
should  honor  its  illustrious  names.  They  serve  not 
only  as  a  measure  of  their  possibilities,  but  they  pos- 
sess greater  inspirational  power  by  virtue  of  their 
close  sympathetic  and  kindly  touch.  Small  wonder 
that  such  people  are  wont  to  glorify  their  distin- 
guished men  out  of  proportion  to  their  true  his- 
torical setting  on  the  scale  of  human  greatness. 

Frederick  Douglass  is  the  one  commanding  his- 
toric character  of  the  colored  race  in  America.  He 
is  the  model  of  emulation  of  those  who  are  struggling 
up  through  the  trials  and  difficulties  which  he  him- 
self suffered  and  subdued.  He  is  illustrative  and 
exemplary  of  what  they  might  become — the  first  fruit 
of  promise  of  a  dormant  race.  To  the  aspiring  col- 
ored youth  of  this  land  Mr.  Douglass  is,  at  once, 
the  inspiration  of  their  hopes  and  the  justification 
of  their  claims. 

I  do  not  on  this  occasion  intend  to  dwell  upon  the 
well-known  facts  and  circumstances  in  the  life  and 
career  of  Mr.  Douglass,  but  deem  it  more  profitable 
to  point  out  some  of  the  lessons  to  be  derived  from 
that  life. 

In  the  first  place,  Mr.  Douglass  began  life  at  the 
lowest  possible  level.  It  is  only  when  we  understand 
the  personal  circumstances  of  his  early  environment 
that  we  can  appreciate  the  pathos  and  power  with 
which  he  was  wont  to  insist  upon  the  true  measure 
of  the  progress  of  the  American  Negro,  not  by  the 
height  already  attained,  but  by  the  depth  from  which 
he  came.  It  has  been  truly  said  that  it  required  a 
greater  upward  move  to  bring  Mr.  Douglass  to  the 
status  in  which  the  ordinary  white  child  is  born  than 


FREDERICK    DOUGLASS  215 

is  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  latter  to  reach  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States.  The  early  life  of 
this  gifted  child  of  nature  was  spent  amid  squalor, 
deprivation  and  cruel  usage.  Like  Melchizedek  of 
old,  it  can  be  said  of  him  that  he  sprang  into  exist- 
ence without  father  or  mother,  or  beginning  of  days. 
His  little  body  was  unprotected  from  the  bitter,  bit- 
ing cold,  and  his  vitals  griped  with  the  gnawing 
pangs  of  hunger.  We  are  told  that  he  vied  with  the 
dogs  for  the  crumbs  that  fell  from  his  master's  table. 
He  tasted  the  sting  of  a  cruel  slavery,  and  drank  the 
cup  to  its  very  dregs.  And  yet  he  arose  from  this 
lowly  and  degraded  estate  and  gained  for  himself  a 
place  among  the  illustrious  names  of  his  country. 

We  hear  much  in  this  day  and  time  about  the  rela- 
tive force  of  environment  and  heredity  as  factors  in 
the  formation  of  character.  But,  as  the  career  of 
Mr.  Douglass  illustrates,  there  is  a  subtle  power  of 
personality  which,  though  the  product  of  neither,  is 
more  potential  than  both.  God  has  given  to  each  of 
us  an  irrepressible  inner  something,  which,  for  want 
of  better  designation,  the  old  philosophy  used  to  call 
the  freedom  of  the  will,  which  counts  for  most  in  the 
making  of  manhood. 

In  the  second  place,  I  would  call  attention  to  the 
tremendous  significance  of  a  seemingly  trifling  inci- 
dent in  his  life.  When  he  was  about  thirteen  years 
of  age  he  came  into  possession  of  a  copy  of  the 
"  Columbian  Orator,"  abounding  in  dramatic  out- 
bursts and  stirring  episodes  of  liberty.  It  was  the 
ripened  fruit  of  the  choicest  spirits,  upon  which  the 
choicest  spirits  feed.  This  book  fired  his  whole  soul 
and  kindled  an  unquenchable  love  for  liberty.  It  is 
held  by  some  that  at  the  age  of  puberty  the  mind  is 
in  a  state  of  unstable  equilibrium,  and,  like  a  pyra- 
mid on  its  apex,  may  be  thrown  in  any  direction  by 


216  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  slightest  impression  of  force.  The  instantaneity 
of  religious  conversions,  which  the  Methodists  used 
to  acclaim  with  such  triumphant  outbursts  of  halle- 
lujah, may  rest  upon  some  such  psychological  foun- 
dation. When  the  child  nature  stands  at  the  parting 
of  the  ways,  between  youth  and  adolescence,  it  yields 
to  some  quickening  touch,  as  the  fuse  to  the  spark, 
or  as  the  sensitized  plate  to  the  impressions  of  sun- 
light. There  are  "  psychological  moments  "  when 
the  revealed  idea  rises  sublimely  above  the  revealing 
agent.  According  to  the  theory  of  harmonies,  if  two 
instruments  are  tuned  in  resonant  accord  the  vibra- 
tions of  the  one  will  wake  up  the  slumbering  chords 
of  the  other.  Young  Douglass's  soul  was  in  sympa- 
thetic resonance  with  the  great  truth  of  human  broth- 
erhood and  equality,  and  needed  only  the  psycholog- 
ical suggestion  which  the  "  Columbian  Orator  "  sup- 
plied. In  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  it 
burned  deep  into  his  soul  and  made  an  ineffaceable 
impression  upon  his  consciousness  of  the  gospel  of 
brotherhood  and  equality  of  man.  It  was  the  same 
truth  which  could  only  be  impressed  upon  the  Apostle 
Peter  in  the  rhapsodies  of  a  heavenly  vision.  The 
age  of  revelation  is  not  past,  and  will  not  pass  so 
long  as  there  remains  one  soul  that  yearns  for  spirit- 
ual illumination.  There  comes  at  times  into  our 
lives  some  sudden  echo  of  the  heavenly  harmony  from 
the  unseen  world,  and  happy  is  that  soul  which  beats 
in  vibrant  harmony  with  that  supernal  sound.  When 
the  gospel  of  liberty  first  dawned  upon  the  adolescent 
Douglass,  as  he  perused  the  pages  of  the  "  Colum- 
bian Orator,"  there  is  no  rendition  of  either  the  old 
or  the  new  school  of  psychology  that  can  analyze 
the  riot  of  thought  and  sentiment  that  swept  through 
his  turbulent  soul.  This  was  indeed  his  new  birth, 
his   baptism   with   fire   from   on    high.      From   that 


FREDERICK    DOUGLASS  317 

moment  he  was  a  possessed  man.  /The  love  of  lib- 
erty bound  him  with  its  subtle  cords'  and  did  not  re- 
lease him  until  the  hour  of  his  death  on  Anacostia's 
mist-clad  height.  J 

Our  educational  philosophers  are  ransacking  their 
brains  to  prescribe  wise  curricula  of  study  for  col- 
ored youth.  There  is  not  so  much  need  of  that  which 
gives  information  to  the  mind  or  cunning  to  the 
fingers  as  that  which  touches  the  soul  and  quickens 
the  spirit.  There  must  be  first  aroused  dormant 
consciousness  of  manhood  with  its  inalienable  rights, 
privileges,  and  dignity.  The  letter  killeth,  the  spirit 
maketh  alive.  The  "  Columbian  Orator  "  contributed 
more  toward  arousing  the  manhood  of  Mr.  Douglass 
than  all  the  traditional  knowledge  of  all  the  schools. 
Of  what  avail  is  the  mastery  of  all  branches  of  tech- 
nical and  refined  knowledge  unless  it  touches  the 
hidden  springs  of  manhood?  The  value  of  any  cur- 
riculum of  study  for  a  suppressed  class  that  is  not 
pregnant  with  moral  energy,  and  that  does  not  make 
insistent  and  incessant  appeal  to  the  half-conscious 
manhood  within  is  seriously  questionable.  The  reve- 
lation to  a  young  man  of  the  dignity,  I  had  almost 
said  the  divinity,  of  his  own  selfhood  is  worth  more 
to  him  in  the  development  of  character  and  power 
than  all  the  knowledge  in  all  the  de  luxe  volumes  in 
the  gilded  Carnegie  libraries. 

In  the  third  place,  Negro  youth  should  study  Mr. 
Douglass  as  a  model  of  manly  courage.  In  order  to 
acquire  a  clear  conception  of  principles  let  us  dis- 
criminate sharply  in  the  use  of  terms.  Courage  is 
that  quality  which  enables  one  to  encounter  danger 
and  difficulties  with  firmness  and  resolution  of  spirit. 
It  is  the  swell  of  soul  which  meets  outward  pressure 
with  inner  resistance.  Fortitude,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  the  capacity  to  endure,  the  ability  to  suffer  and 


218  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

be  strong.  It  is  courage  in  the  passive  voice.  True 
courage  sets  up  an  ideal  and  posits  a  purpose ;  it  cal- 
culates the  cost  and  is  economic  of  means,  though 
never  faltering  in  determination  to  reach  that  end. 
Bravery  is  mere  physical  daring  in  the  presence  of 
danger,  and  responds  to  temporary  physical  and 
mental  excitation.  He  who  is  eager  to  fight  every 
evil  which  God  allows  to  exist  in  society  does  not 
display  rational  courage.  Even  our  Saviour  selected 
the  evils  against  which  He  waged  war.  The  caged 
eagle  which  beats  his  wings  into  insensibility  against 
the  iron  bars  of  his  prison-house  is  accounted  a  fool- 
ish bird.  On  the  other  hand,  "  the  linnet  void  of  noble 
raze  "  has  gained  the  everlasting  seal  of  poetic  dis- 
approval. It  is  not  genuine  courage  to  go  through 
the  world  like  the  knight  in  the  tale  with  sword  in 
hand  and  challenge  on  lips  to  offer  mortal  combat  to 
every  windmill  of  opposition. 

Mr.  Douglass  was  courageous  in  the  broadest  and 
best  significance  of  the  term.  He  set  before  him  as 
the  goal  of  his  ambition  his  own  personal  freedom 
and  that  of  his  race,  and  he  permitted  neither  prin- 
cipalities nor  powers,  nor  height  nor  depth,  nor 
things  present  nor  things  to  come,  to  swerve  him 
from  the  pursuit  of  that  purpose. 

When  we  speak  of  moral  courage  we  indulge  in 
tautology  of  terms ;  for  all  courage  is  essentially 
moral.  It  does  not  require  courage  to  go  with  your 
friends  or  against  your  enemies ;  it  is  a  physical  im- 
pulse to  do  so.  But  true  moral  courage  is  shown 
when  we  say  no  to  our  friends. 

f^MVlr.  Douglass  reached  the  climax  of  moral  cour- 
age when  he  parted  with  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  his 
friend  and  benefactor,  because  of  honest  difference 
of  judgment,  and  when  for  the  same  motive  he  re- 
fused to  follow  John  Brown  to  the  scaffold  at  Har- 


FREDERICK    DOUGLASS  219 

per's  Ferry.  It  required  an  iron  resolution  and  sub- 
lime courage  for  Douglass  to  deny  the  tender,  pa- 
thetic, paternal  appeal  of  the  man  who  was  about  to 
offer  up  himself  as  a  sacrifice  for  an  alien  race.  John 
Brown  on  the  scaffold  dying  for  an  alien  and  de- 
fenseless race  is  the  most  sublime  spectacle  that  this 
planet  has  seen  since  Christ  hung  on  the  cross.  That 
scaffold  shall  be  more  hallowed  during  the  ages  to 
come  than  any  throne  upon  which  king  ever  sat. 
Who  but  Douglass  would  decline  a  seat  on  his  right 
hand  ? 

In  the  fourth  place,  Mr.  Douglass  stands  out  as 
a  model  of  self-respect.  Although  he  was  subject  to 
all  of  the  degradation  and  humiliation  of  his  race, 
yet  he  preserved  the  integrity  of  his  own  soul.  It 
is  natural  for  a  class  that  is  despised,  rejected  and 
despitefully  used  to  accept  the  estimate  of  their 
contemners,  and  to  conclude  that  they  are  good  for 
nothing  but  to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot. 
In  a  civilization  whose  every  feature  serves  to  im- 
press a  whole  people  with  a  sense  of  their  inferiority, 
small  wonder  if  the  more  timid  and  resigned  spirits 
are  crushed  beneath  the  cruel  weight.  It  requires 
the  philosophic  calm  and  poise  to  stand  upright  and 
unperturbed  amid  such  irrational  things. 
/Tt  is  imperative  that  the  youth  of  the  colored  race 
have  impressed  upon  them  the  lesson  that  it  is  not 
the  treatment  that  a  man  receives  that  degrades  him, 
but  that  which  he  accepts])  It  does  not  degrade  the 
soul  when  the  body  is  swallowed  up  by  the  earth- 
quake or  overwhelmed  by  the  flood.  We  are  not 
humiliated  by  the  rebuffs  of  nature.  No  more  should 
we  feel  humiliated  and  degraded  by  violence  and 
outrage  perpetrated  by  a  powerful  and  arrogant  so- 
cial scheme.  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he. 
The  inner  freedom  of  soul  is  not  subject  to  assault 


220  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

and  battery.  Mr.  Douglass  understood  this  prin- 
ciple well.  He  was  never  in  truth  and  in  deed  a  slave ; 
for  his  soul  never  accepted  the  gyves  that  shackled 
his  body. 

It  is  related  that  Mr.  Douglass  was  once  ordered 
out  of  a  first-class  coach  into  a  "  Jim  Crow  "  car 
by  a  rude  and  ill-mannered  conductor.  His  white 
companion  followed  him  to  the  proscribed  depart- 
ment, and  asked  him  how  he  felt  to  be  humiliated  by 
such  a  coarse  fellow.  Mr.  Douglass  let  himself  out 
to  the  full  length  of  his  robust  manhood  and  replied, 
"  I  feel  as  if  I  had  been  kicked  by  an  ass."  If  one 
will  preserve  his  inner  integrity,  the  ill-usage  and 
despiteful  treatment  others  may  heap  upon  him  can 
never  penetrate  to  the  holy  of  holies,  which  remains 
sacred  and  inviolable  to  an  external  assault. 

The  fifth  lesson  which  should  be  emphasized  in  con- 
nection with  the  life  of  Mr.  Douglass  is  that  he 
possessed  a  ruling  passion  outside  the  narmw  circle 
of  self-interest  and  personal  well  being.  |Xhe  love 
of  liberty  reigned  supreme  in  his  souO  All  great 
natures  are  characterized  by  a  passionate*  enthusiasm 
for  some  altruistic  principle.  Its  highest  manifesta- 
tion is  found  in  the  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  men 
on  the  spiritual  side.  All  great  religious  teachers 
belong  to  this  class.  Patriots  and  philanthropists 
are  ardently  devoted  to  the  present  well-being  of  man. 
The  poet,  the  painter,  and  the  sculptor  indulge  in  a 
fine  frenzy  over  contemplative  beauty  or  its  formal 
expression.  The  philosopher  and  the  scientist  go 
into  ecstasy  over  the  abstract  pursuit  of  truth. 
Minds  of  smaller  caliber  get  pure  delight  from  empty 
pleasure,  sportsmanship  or  the  collection  of  curios 
and  bric-a-brac.  Even  the  average  man  is  at  his 
highest  level  when  his  whole  soul  goes  out  in  love 
for  another.     The  man  who  lives  without  altruistic 


FREDERICK    DOUGLASS  221 

enthusiasm   goes   through  the  world  wrapped  in   a 
shrjpaid. 

/There  have  been  few  members  of  the  human  race 
thai  have  been  characterized  by  so  intense  and  pas- 
sionate a  love  for  liberty  as  Frederick  Douglass.  His 
love  for  liberty  was  not  limited  by  racial,  political 
or  geographical  boundaries,  but  included  the  whole 
round  world.  He  believed  that  liberty,  like  religion, 
applied  to  all  men  "  without  one  plea."  He  cham- 
pioned liberty  for  black  men,  liberty  for  white  men, 
liberty  for  Americans,  liberty  for  Europeans,  liberty 
for  Asiatics,  liberty  for  the  wise,  liberty  for  the 
simple;  liberty  for  the  weak,  liberty  for  the  strong; 
liberty  for  men,  liberty  for  women ;  liberty  for  all 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  men?}  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  permitted  his  thoughts  to  wander  in  plane- 
tary space  or  speculated  as  to  the  inhabitability  of 
other  worlds  than  ours ;  but  if  he  did,  I  am  sure 
that  his  great  soul  took  them  all  in  his  comprehen- 
sive scheme  of  liberty.  In  this  day  and  time,  when 
the  spirit  of  commercialism  and  selfish  greed  com- 
mand the  best  energies  of  the  age,  the  influence  of 
such  a  life  to  those  who  are  downtrodden  and  over- 
borne is  doubly  significant.  Greed  for  gain  has  never 
righted  any  wrong  in  the  history  of  the  human  race. 
The  love  of  money  is  the  root,  and  not  the  remedy 
of  evil. 

In  the  sixth  and  last  place,  I  would  call  attention 
of  the  young  to  the  danger  of  forgetting  the  work 
and  worth  of  Frederick  Douglass  and  the  ministra- 
tions of  his  life.  We  live  in  a  practical  age  when  the 
things  that  are  seen  overshadow  the  things  that  are 
invisible. 

What  did  Douglass  do?  ask  the  crass  materialists. 
He  built  no  institutions  and  laid  no  material  founda- 
tions.    True,  he  left  us  no  showy  tabernacles  of  clay. 


228  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

He  did  not  aspire  to  be  the  master  mechanic  of  the 
colored  race.  The  greatest  things  of  this  world  are 
not  made  with  hands,  but  reside  in  truth  and  right- 
eousness and  love.  Douglass  was  the  moral  leader 
and  spiritual  prophet  of  his  race.  Unless  all  signs 
of  the  times  are  misleading,  the  time  approaches, 
and  is  even  now  at  hand,  which  demands  a  moral 
renaissance.  Then,  O  for  a  Douglass,  to  arouse  the 
conscience  of  the  white  race,  to  awaken  the  almost 
incomprehensible  lethargy  of  his  own  people,  and  to 
call  down  the  righteous  wrath  of  Heaven  upon  injus- 
tice and  wrong. 


JEFFERSON    AND    THE    NEGRO 

The  recurring  anniversaries  of  the  birth  of 
Thomas  Jefferson  elicit  expressions  of  gratitude  and 
esteem  second  only  to  that  for  George  Washington. 
For  strength  and  intensity  of  discipleship  and  for 
attachment  to  the  tenets  that  he  taught,  his  name 
is  honored  beyond  all  names  in  American  politics. 
The  authorship  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
has  fixed  his  fame  forever  among  those  who  love 
liberty  and  hate  oppression.  The  vital  clause  in 
this  world-renowned  document  transcends  the  nar- 
row exigencies  of  the  situation  with  which  it  spe- 
cifically dealt,  and  makes  it  the  greatest  state  paper 
of  all  times.  The  specific  charges  against  the  British 
monarch  are  caustic  enough,  and  adroitly  drawn, 
but  they  no  longer  burden  our  memory  nor  quicken 
our  emotion,  If  we  should  strike  from  the  document 
the  appeal  to  the  universal  heart  touching  the  inalien- 
able right  to  liberty  and  equality  of  privilege,  it 
would  rarely  be  disturbed  from  its  resting-place  in 
the  appendix  of  our  school  histories.  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, who,  after  Jefferson,  possessed  perhaps  the  most 
illumined  understanding  of  any  American  statesman, 
deemed  it  the  crowning  proof  of  the  political  genius 
of  the  author  of  the  great  Declaration  that  "  in  the 
concrete  pressure  of  a  struggle  for  national  inde- 
pendence, he  had  the  coolness,  foresight,  and  capac- 
ity to  introduce  into  a  merely  revolutionary  docu- 
ment an  abstract  truth  applicable  to  all  men  and 
all  times,  and  so  embalm  it  there  that  to-day  and  in 
all  coming  days  it  shall  be  a  rebuke  and  a  stumbling- 

223 


224  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

block  to  the  harbingers  of  appearing  tyranny  and 
oppression." 

It  is  among  the  glaring  anomalies  of  our  national 
history  that  the  political  party  which  from  the  days 
of  Jefferson  to  the  present  time  has  stood  for  the 
enslavement  and  suppression  of  the  Negro  race  pro- 
fesses the  greatest  admiration  for  his  teachings  and 
assumes  almost  the  exclusive  right  to  cherish  his 
memory.  And  yet  the  welfare  of  this  unfortunate 
race,  not  merely  its  release  from  physical  bondage, 
but,  to  use  his  own  felicitous  expression,  "  the  eman- 
cipation of  human  nature,"  was  ever  a  burden  upon 
the  heart  of  this  great  apostle  of  liberty.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  among  all  the  tributes  of  praise 
and  honor  which  these  anniversaries  of  his  birth 
evoke  one  word  will  be  said  about  his  devotion  to 
that  cause  for  which  he  labored  as  strenuously  as  for 
any  other.  Indeed,  the  Negro  race  is  the  chief  ben- 
eficiary of  his  doctrine.  The  luminary  which  he  lit 
in  the  sky  of  liberty  can  never  be  blotted  out  till  all 
men  shall  be  blessed  by  its  kindly  light.  Though 
for  a  time  it  may  be  obscured  by  the  shifting  mists 
of  doubt,  evasion,  and  denial,  it  will  endure  as  long 
as  sun  and  moon  and  stars. 

It  is  said  that  the  Northern  States,  after  finding 
slavery  unprofitable  in  their  barren  clime  and  ice- 
bound latitude,  disposed  of  their  slaves  at  a  profit 
and  turned  abolitionists  for  easement  of  conscience. 
However  this  may  be,  it  is  well  known  that  economic 
principles  and  moral  notions  are  so  closely  inter- 
woven that  it  is  hard  to  say  where  the  one  begins 
and  the  other  ends.  It  is  a  sad  comment  upon  human 
nature  that  no  people,  as  such,  have  ever  cried  out 
against  the  oppression  of  the  weak  so  long  as  it 
inured  to  their  material  profit.  "  Go  sell  all  thou 
hast  and  give  to  the  poor  "  is  the  hardest  condition 


JEFFERSON    AND  THE    NEGRO       225 

the  Saviour  imposed  upon  His  followers.  Idolatry 
will  never  be  destroyed  by  the  makers  of  images,  nor 
the  rum  traffic  by  saloon-keepers.  There  were,  in- 
deed, a  number  of  choice  spirits  like  Edward  Coles, 
of  Virginia,  a  devoted  disciple  of  Jefferson,  who  had 
the  courage  to  make  the  sacrifice  which  his  conscience 
demanded.  There  were  thousands  of  individuals  who 
did  the  same  thing;  but  never  enough  to  make  it  a 
general  policy. 

Those  who  make  a  close  study  of  the  economic  con- 
dition of  Virginia  during  the  latter  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  are  easily  persuaded  that  the  Old  Do- 
minion was  ready  to  follow  closely  upon  the  heels  of 
New  England  in  the  matter  of  the  emancipation  of 
the  slaves.  The  agricultural  resources  of  the  col- 
ony, under  a  century  and  a  half  of  reckless  tillage, 
had  been  well-nigh  exhausted.  The  old  baronial  es- 
tates were  rapidly  falling  to  pieces,  and  were  passing 
through  the  hands  of  the  sheriff.  The  production  of 
tobacco  by  slave  labor  had  ceased  to  be  a  bonanza. 
Under  such  conditions  it  was  inevitable  that  enlight- 
ened public  sentiment  would  animadvert  to  the  moral 
evil  of  slavery ;  the  same  moral  leaven  that  had  leav- 
ened the  conscience  of  New  England  was  at  work  in 
Virginia.  The  Negro  element  in  Virginia  has  scarcely 
more  than  doubled  itself  in  one  hundred  years.  Un- 
less the  estates  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  were 
cared  for  because  of  sentimental  reasons,  they  would 
now  be  the  homes  of  the  owl  and  the  bat.  If  it  had  not 
been  for  the  rise  of  the  lower  Southern  States  and 
the  new  valuation  put  upon  slaves  by  the  invention 
of  the  cotton-gin,  Virginia  would  have  early  arrayed 
herself  in  the  column  of  the  anti-slavery  States. 
But  just  as  New  England  carried  on  the  slave  trade 
with  Southern  neighbors  for  many  years  after  the 
system  had  ceased  to  be  profitable  on  her  own  soil, 


226  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

so  Virginia  became  the  slave  market  for  the  newer 
and  richer  States  to  the  south  of  her.  The  close 
geographical  touch  and  ties  of  blood  kinship 
strengthened,  no  doubt,  by  the  rise  of  a  meddlesome 
spirit  in  the  North,  kept  Virginia  in  sympathy  with 
the  slave  regime.  The  rise  of  the  anti-slavery  spirit, 
however,  was  not  the  sole  product  of  Puritan  prin- 
ciples, but  had  an  exact  counterpart  in  the  more 
southern  colony.  The  moral  sense  of  a  community 
does  not  rest  upon  geographical  latitude,  but  upon 
a  long  chain  of  cause  and  consequence,  which  the 
careful  student  can  trace  as  clearly  as  the  casual 
connection  in  the  more  exact  domains  of  knowledge. 
Jefferson  was  of  Welch  and  Scotch  extraction, 
with  little  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  in  his  makeup.  His 
passionate  devotion  to  moral  principle,  which  was 
redeemed  from  fanaticism  only  by  his  robust  intel- 
lectual sanity,  may  be  considered  in  part  at  least  as 
an  attribute  of  blood.  As  with  George  Washington, 
the  circumstances  of  his  blood  and  birth  would  hardly 
entitle  him  to  rank  with  the  exclusive  aristocratic  set. 
Like  Washington  also,  by  force  of  personal  worth  and 
dint  of  strenuous  endeavor,  he  made  his  merits  known 
and  received  the  fullest  recognition  among  circles  of 
the  highest  social  consideration ;  but,  unlike  Wash- 
ington, he  was  never  completely  assimilated  by  the 
upper  set  among  whom  he  moved.  He  never  forgot 
the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  under  man.  It  was 
the  ambition  of  his  life  to  found  an  aristocracy  upon 
character  and  culture,  instead  of  lineage  and  wealth. 
No  one  ever  gave  the  aristocratic  pretensions  of  his 
day  such  rude  shocks  as  he.  It  was  Jefferson  who 
abolished  the  law  of  entail  and  primogeniture  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  disestablished  the  Church  of  England.  He 
never  failed  to  exert  his  influence  for  the  curtail- 
ment  and  even  for  the   abolition   of  slavery.     The 


JEFFERSON    AND  THE    NEGRO       227 

aristocrats  hated  him  with  bitter  and  malignant 
hatred. 

The  struggle  against  the  oppression  of  the  mother 
country  and  the  wrongs  and  cruelties  of  slavery  were 
in  harmony  with  the  impulse  of  his  soul.  Perhaps  no 
man  ever  lived  who  has  done  so  much  to  impress 
the  minds  of  the  common  people,  whom  others  were 
disposed  to  ignore  and  despise,  with  a  sense  of  lib- 
erty and  personal  dignity,  as  the  author  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  This  he  was  able  to 
do  without  the  gift  of  oratory,  without  the  glamour 
of  military  glory,  without  the  potent  spell  of  reli- 
gious mystery,  but  by  sheer  force  of  intense  convic- 
tion and  intellectual  acumen. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  Jefferson  was  him- 
self a  wealthy  slaveholder,  who  inconsistently  enough 
gave  occasional  utterance  against  the  system  of 
which  he  was  a  beneficiary ;  but  that  his  serious  and 
sustained  endeavor  lay  wholly  in  other  directions. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  question  of  emancipation 
and  the  subsequent  welfare  of  the  Negro  race  was 
one  in  which  he  never  lost  a  vital  interest.  It  is 
known  that  this  was  one  of  the  first  questions  to 
which  he  gave  attention  at  the  beginning  of  his  ca- 
reer, and  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  just  one  year 
before  his  death,  we  find  him  writing  to  an  Aboli- 
tionist :  "  My  own  health  is  very  low,  not  having 
been  able  to  leave  the  house  for  three  months.  At 
the  age  of  eighty-two,  with  one  foot  in  the  grave, 
and  the  other  uplifted  to  follow  it,  I  do  not  permit 
myself  to  take  part  in  new  enterprises,  even  for  bet- 
tering the  condition  of  men,  not  even  the  great  one 
which  is  the  subject  of  your  letter,  and  which  has 
been  through  life  one  of  my  greatest  anxieties." 

In  the  early  part  of  his  public  career  he  proposed 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  Virginia  for 


228  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  emancipation  of  slaves  born  after  a  certain  date, 
and  that  they  should  be  educated  at  public  expense 
"  in  tillage,  arts,  and  sciences,  according  to  their 
geniuses."  His  marvelous  foresight  comprehended 
the  entire  scheme  of  industrial  preparation  of  the 
Negro,  which  is  nowadays  being  exploited  with  as 
much  gusto  and  freshness  of  enthusiasm  as  if  it 
were  a  new  discovery.  As  a  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, in  1778,  he  brought  in  a  bill  forbidding  the 
further  importation  of  slaves  in  Virginia,  which  was 
adopted  without  opposition. 

The  last  article  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence as  the  author  drafted  it  was  an  indictment 
against  the  King  for  his  complicity  in  the  slave 
trade.  This  article,  which  was  rejected  by  his  more 
conservative  colleagues,  contained  the  only  under- 
scored words  in  the  whole  document :  "  He  has  waged 
cruel  war  against  human  nature  itself,  violating  its 
most  sacred  rights  of  life  and  liberty  in  the  persons 
of  distinct  peoples,  who  never  offended  him ;  capti- 
vating and  carrying  them  into  slavery  in  another 
hemisphere  to  incur  miserable  death  in  their  trans- 
portation thither.  This  piratical  warfare,  the  oppro- 
brium of  infidel  powers,  is  the  warfare  of  the  Chris- 
tian King  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to  keep 
open  market  where  MEN  should  be  bought  and  sold, 
he  has  prostituted  his  negative  for  suppressing  every 
legislative  attempt  to  prohibit  or  to  restrain  this 
execrable  commerce." 

There  is  much  dispute  as  to  whether  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  was  intended  to  include  the 
Negro  race.  The  language  of  this  clause  leaves  not 
the  slightest  room  for  doubt  of  its  intendment,  at 
least  so  far  as  the  author  was  concerned.  He  in- 
tended nothing  short  of  the  "  emancipation  of  human 
nature." 


JEFFERSON    AND  THE    NEGRO      229 

Speaking  of  a  temporary  check  placed  upon  the 
slave  traffic  in  Virginia,  he  said :  "  This  will  in  some 
measure  stop  the  increase  of  this  great  political  and 
moral  evil  while  the  minds  of  our  citizens  are  ripen- 
ing for  the  complete  emancipation  of  human  nature." 
As  still  further  proof  that  Jefferson  included  the 
Negro  in  his  universal  scheme  of  liberty  and  equal- 
ity, we  read  from  a  letter  written  to  Edward  Coles 
in  1820 :  "  I  had  hoped  that  the  younger  genera- 
tion, receiving  their  early  impressions  after  the  flame 
of  liberty  had  been  kindled  in  every  breast,  would 
have  sympathized  with  oppression  wherever  found, 
and  proved  their  love  of  liberty  beyond  their  own 
share  of  it."  And  again :  "  What  a  stupendous, 
what  an  incomprehensible  machine  is  man !  Who  can 
endure  toil,  famine,  stripes,  imprisonment,  and  death 
itself,  in  vindication  of  his  own  liberty,  and  the  next 
moment  be  deaf  to  all  those  motives  whose  power 
sustained  him  through  his  trial,  and  inflict  on  his 
fellow-men  a  bondage,  one  hour  of  which  is  fraught 
with  more  misery  than  ages  of  that  he  arose  in  re- 
bellion to  oppose." 

If  such  unmistakable  utterances  by  the  author  of 
the  instrument  do  not  make  clear  its  intendment,  then 
all  the  laws  of  critical  interpretation  are  of  no  avail. 
In  a  recent  political  controversy  we  heard  this  great 
document  reduced  to  an  airy  abstraction  by  the 
leaders  of  a  party  that  was  supposed  to  espouse  its 
principles.  But  the  spirit  of  Jefferson  must  surely 
rise  up  and  condemn  all  those  who  would  deprive  any 
race  or  class  of  the  blessings  which  flow  from  this 
great  Declaration. 

Jefferson  presented  a  plan  for  the  government  of 
the  great  Northwest  Territory,  according  to  which 
slavery  was  to  be  abolished  after  the  year  1800.  This 
provision  was  lost  by  a  bare  majority  of  one.     The 


230  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

author,  commenting  bitterly  upon  the  miscarriage 
of  his  propaganda  of  liberty,  said :  "  Thus  we  see 
the  fate  of  millions  unborn  hanging  upon  the  tongue 
of  one  man,  and  heaven  was  silent  at  that  awful  mo- 
ment !  "  With  characteristic  sagacity  he  clearly 
foresaw  the  strategic  value  of  gaining  the  great 
Northwest  country  to  the  side  of  liberty.  It  was, 
indeed,  in  this  region  that  the  issue  became  most 
acute,  and  the  struggle  between  the  two  economic 
regimes  became  most  intense. 

Jefferson  adopted  two  principles  that  the  modern 
statesman  would  do  well  to  heed:  (1)  That  the  Con- 
stitution should  be  liberally  interpreted  where  human 
rights  are  involved,  and  (£)  that  a  just  cause,  if 
persisted  in,  will  prevail  in  the  long  run.  It  is  the 
policy  of  this  day  to  make  the  most  lax  constitu- 
tional interpretation,  not  in  favor  of,  but  against 
the  rights  of  man,  and  there  is  also  danger  of  for- 
getting that  old  homely  motto  that  truth  is  mighty 
and  in  the  end  will  prevail. 

Thomas  Jefferson  loved  humanity  and  did  not 
despise  it  because  of  the  outward  semblance  that  it 
wore.  On  one  occasion  he  had  as  his  guest  at  Monti- 
cello  a  colored  man  of  education  and  taste,  by  name 
of  Julius  Melbourn.  There  were  in  the  company 
at  dinner  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  Mr.  Wirt,  Mr. 
Samuel  Dexter,  of  Boston,  and  Dr.  Samuel  Mitchell, 
of  New  York.  On  this  occasion  the  race  question 
was  the  theme  for  discussion.  About  the  same  argu- 
ments as  to  the  Negro's  capacity  and  the  decrees 
of  Providence  which  are  still  resorted  to  were  brought 
forward  and  ably  presented.  Mr.  Jefferson  showed 
clearly  the  faith  that  was  in  him  by  declaring  that, 
"  As  regards  personal  rights,  it  seems  to  me  most 
palpably  absurd  that  the  individual  rights  of  voli- 
tion and  locomotion  should  depend  upon  the  degree 


JEFFERSON    AND  THE    NEGRO       231 

of  power  possessed  by  the  individual.  I  should  hardly 
be  willing  to  subscribe  to  the  doctrine  that  because 
the  Chief  Justice  has  a  stronger  mind  or  a  more  ca- 
pacious and  better-formed  brain  than  I  that,  there- 
fore, he  has  the  right  to  make  me  his  slave."  Jef- 
ferson informed  his  colored  guest  that  it  was  his 
intention  to  make  instruction  at  the  University  of 
Virginia  free  to  all  sects  and  colors.  In  a  letter  to 
Benjamin  Banneker,  the  Negro  astronomer,  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson expressed  his  interest  in  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual improvement  of  the  colored  race,  and  wished 
them  every  opportunity  to  demonstrate  to  the  world 
their  intellectual  and  moral  worth. 

Mr.  Jefferson  in  his  notes  on  Virginia  expressed 
the  conviction  that  there  were  irreconcilable  differ- 
ences between  the  races,  and  that  they  could  not  live 
together  on  terms  of  amity.  In  defining  the  short- 
comings of  the  Negro,  however,  he  makes  full  allow- 
ance for  unfavorable  circumstances  and  lack  of  op- 
portunity, and  hazards  his  statements  with  great 
hesitancy  and  caution.  There  is  entire  absence  of 
that  cock-sureness  and  assumption  of  omniscience 
of  which  we  hear  so  much  nowadays.  Jefferson's  plan 
for  the  colonization  of  the  emancipated  race  was  a 
much  more  simple,  sensible  and  humane  project  in 
his  day  than  at  the  present  time.  It  should  not  be 
without  significance,  however,  that  Jefferson,  De 
Tocqueville,  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  all  three  of 
whom  were  men  of  as  great  a  degree  of  enlighten- 
ment as  any  who  have  ever  discussed  American  poli- 
cies, were  of  the  same  mind  as  to  the  final  solution 
of  the  race  problem. 

But  how  could  a  man  be  a  slaveholder  and  at  the 
same  time  entertain  such  doctrines  of  liberty  and 
equality?  This  charge  has  stood  for  more  than  a 
century,  not  only  against  the  author  of  the  Declara- 


232  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

tion  of  Independence,  but  against  all  those  who  par- 
ticipated in  the  great  events  leading  up  to  and  grow- 
ing out  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  Jefferson 
was  a  man  of  glaring  inconsistencies,  even  above  his 
fellows.  Indeed,  every  man  who  thinks  great  thoughts 
and  does  great  deeds  is  apt  to  encounter  the  charge 
of  inconsistency.  The  man  of  one  idea  who  never 
puts  even  that  one  into  execution  can  easily  be  con- 
sistent, because  he  has  no  hosts  of  conflicting 
thoughts  and  deeds  among  themselves.  But  the  man 
of  thoughts  and  deeds  always  repels  the  charge  of 
inconsistency  with  the  retort,  "  Do  I  contradict  my- 
self? well,  then,  I  contradict  myself;  I  am  large,  I 
contain  multitudes."  When  a  great  American  Presi- 
dent wants  to  place  the  fiscal  scheme  of  the  country 
on  a  firm  basis  he  simply  does  so,  and  would  gladly 
forget  that  he  at  one  time  advocated  free  silver. 
When  a  great  party  wants  to  annex  some  distant 
island  of  the  sea,  without  their  let  or  hindrance,  it 
proceeds  to  do  so,  even  though  it  once  professed  to 
subscribe  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Jef- 
ferson was  a  man  of  superlative  political  genius,  and 
at  the  same  time  possessed  a  high  order  of  talent  for 
well-nigh  every  other  branch  of  human  pursuit.  You 
cannot  fetter  genius  by  the  delicate  cords  of  consist- 
ency. It  breaks  them  violently  asunder,  and  follows 
the  freshly  imparted  impulse.  When  President  Jef- 
ferson saw  that  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  would 
inure  to  the  lasting  good  of  his  country  he  struck 
the  bargain  with  the  great  Napoleon,  although  it  ran 
counter  to  all  of  his  political  teachings. 

No  man  more  keenly  appreciated  the  inconsistency 
of  the  American  attitude  on  the  question  of  slavery 
than  did  Thomas  Jefferson.  The  above  recital  shows 
this  most  plainly.  And  yet  he  retained  the  slaves 
which  came  to  him  as  patrimony.     Slavery  on  the 


JEFFERSON    AND  THE    NEGRO       233 

Jefferson  estate  was  of  the  mild,  patriarchal  sort, 
and  the  owner  continued  it  partly  from  the  force 
of  inertia,  and  partly  as  a  duty  to  those  thrust  upon 
his  charge.  To  use  his  own  words :  "  My  opinion 
has  ever  been  that  until  more  can  be  done  for  them, 
we  should  endeavor  with  those  whom  fortune  has 
thrown  in  our  hands,  to  feed  and  clothe  them  well, 
protect  them  from  ill  uses,  and  require  such  reason- 
able labor  only  as  is  performed  voluntarily  by  free- 
men." Mr.  Bacon,  who  was  for  twenty  years  the 
manager  of  Monticello,  has  given  us  a  splendid  ac- 
count of  the  kindly  and  patriarchal  dispensation  that 
prevailed  on  Mr.  Jefferson's  estate.  When  the  Brit- 
ish soldiers  carried  off  some  thirty  or  forty  of  his 
slaves  he  complained  of  their  unnecessary  harshness 
and  severity,  but  did  not  forget  to  add  that  if  they 
would  give  the  men  their  freedom  it  would  be  right. 
We  do  not  hold  men  responsible  for  participating 
in  the  prevailing  customs  of  their  time,  although  it 
must  ever  be  a  source  of  regret  that  the  author  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  did  not  personally 
set  the  example  which  he  never  failed  to  urge  upon 
the  conscience  of  his  fellow-men. 


U  yv^  4,  yciyt~^<-^/  - 


lltidJU.     \  frw 


THE    ARTISTIC    GIFTS    OF    THE     NEGRO 

What  contribution  has  the  Negro  race  ever  made 
or  ever  can  make  to  the  general  culture  of  the  human 
spirit?  asks  the  critic,  with  a  scornful  disdain  that 
allows  no  answer.  Ridicule  and  contempt  have  char- 
acterized the  habitual  attitude  of  the  American  mind 
toward  the  Negro's  higher  strivings.  The  faintest 
suggestion  as  to  his  higher  possibilities  is  received 
either  with  a  sneer  or  with  a  smile.  The  African 
was  brought  to  America  to  be  a  hewer  of  wood  and 
a  drawer  of  water.  Requisition  was  made  upon  his 
physical  faculties  alone  to  perform  this  manual  and 
menial  mission.  His  function  was  supposed  to  be 
as  purely  mechanical  as  that  of  the  ox  which  pulls 
the  plow.  No  more  account  was  taken  of  his  higher 
susceptibilities  than  of  the  mental  and  moral  facul- 
ties of  the  lower  animals.  Indeed,  the  Negro  has 
never  been  regarded  in  his  own  right  and  for  his  own 
sake,  but  merely  as  a  coefficient  which  is  not  detach- 
able from  the  quantity  whose  value  it  enhances.  The 
servant  exists  for  the  sake  of  his  master.  The  black 
man's  status  is  fixed  and  his  usefulness  is  recognized 
on  the  lower  level  of  crude  service.  His  mission  is 
to  administer  to  the  wants  of  the  higher,  or  as  it  is 
more  fitting  to  say,  the  haughtier  race.  "  The  Negro 
is  all  right  in  his  place  "  phrases  a  feeling  that  is 
deep  seated  and  long  abiding.  This  historical  bias 
of  mind  is  brought  forward  in  current  discussion.  It 
is  so  natural  to  base  a  theory  upon  a  long-established 
practice  that  one  no  longer  wonders  at  the  prevalence 
of  this  belief.      The   African   has   sustained  servile 

234 


ARTISTIC    GIFTS    OF    THE    NEGRO     235 

relations  to  the  Aryan  for  so  long  a  time  that  it  is 
easy,  as  it  is  agreeable  to  the  Aryan  pride,  to  con- 
clude that  servitude  is  his  ordained  place  in  society. 
The  dogma  of  Carlyle  that  "  the  Negro  is  useful  to 
God's  creation  only  as  a  servant  "  still  finds  wide 
acceptance.  Much  of  our  current  social  philosophy 
on  the  race  problem  is  but  a  restatement  of  the  an- 
cient prejudice  in  terms  of  modern  phraseology. 
Why  awaken  the  higher  faculties  of  the  race  when 
only  the  lower  ones  are  demanded  in  our  scheme  of 
economy  ?  What  boots  it  to  develop  higher  taste  and 
finer  feelings  in  a  people  who  must  of  necessity  per- 
form the  rougher  grade  of  the  world's  work?  Is  it 
not  preposterous  that  black  men  should  ponder  over 
Shakespeare  and  Dante  and  black  maidens  pursue 
music  and  painting  when  they  might  earn  a  dollar 
a  day  at  useful,  productive  toil?  Such  arguments 
are  as  familiar  to  us  as  the  more  orthodox  doctrine 
drawn  from  the  curse  of  Canaan  used  to  be  in  days 
gone  by.  To  an  attitude  thus  predisposed,  mani- 
festation of  higher  qualities  on  the  part  of  the  people 
held  in  despite  is  both  unwelcome  and  embarrassing. 
The  justification  of  oppression  is  always  based  on 
the  absence  of  higher  faculties.  Phyllis  Wheatley 
and  Frederick  Douglass  were  more  persuasive  and 
potential  anti-slavery  arguments  than  all  the  flood 
of  eloquence  poured  forth  in  behalf  of  an  oppressed 
race.  There  was  serious  hesitation  in  admitting  that 
the  Negro  possessed  a  soul  and  was  entitled  to  the 
rites  of  baptism,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  right 
to  hold  a  Christian  in  slavery.  There  is  a  sneaking 
feeling  in  the  breast  of  humanity  that  the  ennobling 
circle  of  kindly  sympathy  should  include  all  persons 
and  peoples  who  display  aptitude  for  the  higher  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  cult. 

Despite  traditional  theories  and  centuries  of  cruel 


236  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

usage,  there  has  been  more  or  less  continual  out- 
croppings  of  the  Negro's  suppressed  and  stunted 
soul.  Any  striking  emanation  from  this  dark  and 
forbidden  background  was  at  one  time  called  a  freak 
of  nature  not  to  be  calculated  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  events.  But  when  freaks  become  too  frequent 
they  can  no  longer  be  ignored  in  any  rational  scheme 
of  philosophy. 

Music  is  the  easiest  outlet  of  the  soul.  The  pent- 
up  energy  within  breaks  through  the  aperture  of 
sound  while  the  slower  and  more  accurate  delibera- 
tions of  the  intellect  are  yet  in  process  of  formula- 
tion. Plantation  melody,  that  blind,  half-conscious 
poetry  that  rose  up  from  "  the  low  ground  of  sor- 
row," was  the  first  expression  of  the  imprisoned  soul 
of  an  imprisoned  race.  It  was  the  smothered  voice 
of  a  race  crying  in  the  wilderness,  "  with  no  language 
but  a  cry."  These  weird,  plaintive,  lugubrious  long- 
ings go  straight  to  the  heart  without  the  interven- 
tion of  cumbersome  intellectual  machinery.  They 
came  from  the  unsophisticated  soul  of  an  humble  and 
simple-minded  black  folk  and  make  the  strongest  ap- 
peal to  the  universal  heart.  There  can  be  no  stronger 
argument  of  the  sameness  of  human  sympathy.  "  As 
in  the  water  face  answereth  to  face,  so  the  heart  of 
man  to  man."  Negro  melody  has  been  called  the 
only  autochthonous  music  of  the  American  Conti- 
nent. The  inner  soul  of  the  red  man  is  not  preserved 
to  us  in  song.  The  European  brought  his  folk- 
thought  and  folk-song  acquired  by  his  ancestors  in 
the  unremembered  ages.  It  was  reserved  for  the 
transplanted  African  to  sing  a  new  song  racy  of  the 
soil,  which  had  been  baptized  with  his  blood  and  wa- 
tered with  his  tears.  This  music  is  the  spontaneous 
expression  of  the  race  soul  under  new  and  depress- 
ing environment.     It  is  the  folk-genius  of  the  Afri- 


ARTISTIC    GIFTS    OF    THE    NEGRO     237 

can,  not  indeed  on  his  ancestral  heath,  but  in  a  new 
though  beloved  land.  Unlike  the  captive  Jew,  who, 
under  like  circumstances,  hung  his  harp  upon  the 
willow  tree  and  sat  down  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon 
and  wept,  the  transplanted  African  made  a  contri- 
bution to  the  repertoire  of  song  which  moistens  the 
eye  and  melts  the  heart  of  the  world.  These  songs 
are  not  African,  but  American.  The  scene,  circum- 
stances and  aspirations  are  not  adapted  to  some  dis- 
tant continent,  but  to  their  new  environment  in  a 
land,  not  of  their  sojourn,  but  of  their  abiding  place. 
Shall  they  not  immortalize  the  soil  from  which  they 
sprang?  Robert  Burns  has  gathered  the  supersti- 
tions, the  sorrows,  the  sufferings,  the  joys,  the  striv- 
ings of  the  lowly  life  of  Scotland  and  woven  them 
into  soulful  song,  and  has  thus  rendered  old  Scotia 
ever  dear  to  human  memory.  The  tourist  makes  his 
eager  pilgrimage  around  the  world  to  view  "  the 
banks  and  braes  o'  bonnie  Doon  "  where  the  peasant 
lass  poured  out  her  soul  in  anguish.  What  halo  of 
glory  hovers  over  that  ghostly  route  traversed  that 
dreary  night  by  the  tippled  Tarn  O'Shanter!  The 
glory  of  a  locality  rests  as  much  upon  the  folk-song 
or  folk-story  that  grows  out  of  and  gathers  about  it 
as  upon  the  tradition  that  this  or  that  great  man 
was  born  there.  If  the  human  heart  ever  turns  with 
passionate  yearning  to  our  own  Southland,  it  will 
not  be  so  much  in  quest  of  the  deeds  and  doings  of 
her  renowned  warriors  and  statesmen,  as  to  revel  in 
the  songs,  the  sorrows,  the  sighings,  the  soul  striv- 
ings of  her  humble  black  folk  and  to  realize  the  scenes 
amid  which  these  pathetic  melodies  took  their  rise. 
Which  of  their  musical  achievements  would  the  Ameri- 
can people  not  gladly  give  in  exchange  for  "  Steal 
Away  to  Jesus  "  or  "  Swing  Low,  Sweet  Chariot  "  ? 
What  song  yet  ascribed  to  the  glory  of  "  Hail,  Co- 


238  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

lumbia !  "  equals  in  power  of  pathetic  appeal  and 
strength  of  local  endearment  the  yearnful  quest  of 
the  slave  for  his  home  land,  "  'Way  Down  Upon  the 
Suwannee  River  "  ?  The  motif  of  the  world  renowned 
"  Dixie,"  the  musical  inspiration  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  is  based  upon  the  yearning  of  a  slave 
removed  from  his  native  Sunny  South  for  the  land 
where  he  was  born.  The  South  is  the  home  of  the 
Negro,  not  merely  because  he  has  aided  in  the  de- 
velopment of  its  resources  by  his  strong  and  brawny 
arm,  but  also  because  he  has  hallowed  it  by  the 
yearnings  of  his  soul. 

There  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  more 
sensitive  members  of  the  colored  race  to  affect  to  feel 
ashamed  of  these  melodies  which  solaced  and  sus- 
tained their  ancestors  under  burdens  as  grievous  as 
any  the  human  race  has  ever  been  called  upon  to 
bear.  They  fear  to  acknowledge  a  noble  influence 
because  it  proceeded  from  a  lowly  place.  All  great 
people  glorify  their  history,  and  look  back  upon 
their  early  attainment  with  spiritualized  vision. 
What  nation  is  there  that  cannot  find  in  its  earlier 
struggles  those  things  which,  if  interpreted  in  light 
of  present  conditions,  would  count  for  humiliation 
and  shame?  But  through  the  purifying  power  of 
spiritual  perspective  they  are  made  to  reveal  a 
greater  degree  of  glory.  However  trying  and  per- 
plexing experiences  may  be  while  we  are  in  the  midst 
of  them,  yet  a  longer  range  of  vision  gives  us  the 
assurance  that  "  it  will  afterwards  please  us  to  re- 
member even  these  things."  A  race  that  is  ashamed 
of  itself  or  of  its  historic  humiliation  which  has  been 
overcome  makes  a  pitiable  spectacle  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world  to  which  it  appeals  for  sympathy  and  tol- 
erance. A  people  who  are  afraid  of  their  own  shadow 
must  forever  abide  in  the  shade.     These  plantation 


ARTISTIC    GIFTS    OF    THE    NEGRO     239 

melodies  represent  the  Negro's  chief  contribution  to 
the  purifying  influences  that  soften  and  solace  the 
human  spirit.  Can  the  oyster  be  ashamed  of  the 
pearl  or  the  toad  of  the  jewel  in  its  head?  For  the 
Negro  to  despise  his  superior  natural  qualities  be- 
cause they  differ  from  those  of  another  class  would 
be  of  the  same  order  of  folly  as  if  the  female  sex, 
in  derogation  of  its  natural  endowment,  should  re- 
fuse to  sing  soprano,  because  the  males  excel  in 
baritone. 

This  music  is  indeed  inimitable.  Its  racial  quality 
is  stamped  on  every  note.  The  writer  remembers  the 
anomalous  spectacle  of  a  white  principal  trying  to 
lead  his  colored  pupils  in  the  rendition  of  jubilee 
glees.  The  requisite  melodic,  pathetic  quality  of 
voice  is  a  natural  coefficient  which  is  as  inalienable 
as  any  other  physical  characteristic.  It  rings  out 
from  the  blood.  As  we  listen  to  its  sad,  sighing 
cadence,  we  naturally  expect  to  look  and  see,  and 
say,  "  These  are  they  who  have  come  up  through 
great  tribulation."  A  white  man  attempting  a  plan- 
tation melody  is  as  much  a  racial  anomaly  as  a  Ne- 
gro affecting  to  feel  in  his  soul  the  significance  of 
that  line  of  a  celebrated  hymn  in  which  the  singer 
passionately  avows  that  he  will  never  "  blush  to  speak 
His  name." 

Immediately  after  the  war  troupes  of  Negro 
singers  invaded  the  North  and  sang  the  songs  whose 
melodic  pathos  melted  the  heart  like  wax.  The  Fisk 
Jubilee  singers  carried  the  ministration  of  this  music 
to  the  remotest  ends  of  the  earth;  and  kings  and 
emperors  have  wept  before  these  soul-moving  wail- 
ings.  Many  a  school  in  the  South  owes  its  endow- 
ment to  this  sweet,  sad  singing.  The  plantation 
melodies  possess  the  quality  of  endurance.  It  ful- 
fils Keat's  definition,  "  A  thing  of  beauty  is  a  joy 


240  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

forever."  Whenever  and  wherever  they  are  faith- 
fully rendered,  the  people  are  moved  mightily. 

Transition  from  plantation  melody  to  the  stand- 
ard tunes  of  Watts  and  Wesley  was  as  easy  as  the 
second  step  in  walking.  Indeed,  the  Negro's  gift 
for  psalmody  and  his  wonderful  melodic  and  har- 
monic endowment  are  the  marvel  of  the  musical 
world.  The  wonder  is  how  these  people  can  sing  so 
well  without  having  learned.  To  listen  to  a  Negro 
camp-meeting  in  the  backwoods  of  the  Carolinas 
rendering  the  good  old  songs  of  Zion  is  almost 
enough  to  "  rob  the  listening  soul  of  sin." 

The  rise  of  rag-time  music,  which  for  the  past  few 
years  has  been  the  rage,  marks  another  stage  of 
Negro  music.  The  potency  of  its  spell  has  been  all- 
pervasive.  Half  the  world  has  been  humming  its 
tunes.  The  small  boy  whistles  it  on  the  street ;  the 
Italian  grinds  it  from  his  music  box  while  the  urchins 
gambol  on  the  commons ;  it  jingles  in  our  ears  from 
the  slot  machine  while  we  wait  for  the  next  train  or 
sip  a  glass  of  soda;  it  has  captivated  the  European 
capitals ;  the  ultra  dilettante  and  his  alabaster  lady 
in  the  gilded  palace  of  wealth  glide  gracefully  over 
the  tufted  fabric  to  the  movement  of  its  catchy, 
snatchy  airs.  The  critics  may  indeed  tell  us  that 
music  is  one  thing  and  rag-time  another,  but  the  com- 
mon people,  and  the  uncommon  ones  as  well,  hear  it, 
not  only  gladly,  but  rapturously.  Rag-time  is  es- 
sentially Negro  in  motive,  meaning,  movement,  and 
indeed,  in  composition.  It  is  neither  serious  nor  soul 
deep,  like  its  plantation  prototype,  but  is  rather  the 
outcome  of  a  silly,  flippant,  dilettantism  of  the  "  new 
issue."  The  scene  is  in  the  city,  not  the  country. 
Indeed  it  might  well  be  called  "  city  airs  "  in  contra- 
distinction from  "  plantation  melodies."  While  this 
music  portrays  faithfully  the  Negro  race  in  a  certain 


2> 


ARTISTIC    GIFTS    OF    THE    NEGRO     Ml 

phase  of  development,  and  while  some  of  it  bites  deep 
into  the  experiences  of  human  nature,  yet  it  lacks 
the  element  of  permanence,  and  seems  destined  to 
pass  away,  like  the  jingles  of  the  variety  stage  which 
tickle  the  ear  only  for  a  season.  It  is  here  for  the 
first  time  that  the  Negro  figures  as  a  composer  of 
music.  The  words  and  music  of  the  plantation  melo- 
dies are  attributed  to  no  definite  authorship.  The 
"  coon  songs,"  a  sort  of  connecting  link  between  the 
old  and  the  new,  were  composed  mainly  by  white 
authors.  It  is  not  generally  known  that  such  fa- 
mous songs  as  "  Ben  Bolt,"  "  Listen  to  the  Mocking- 
Bird,"  and  "  Rally  Round  the  Flag,  Boys,"  bear  the 
stamp  of  Negro  workmanship,  as  respects  either 
words  or  music.  But  the  Negro's  chief  musical  dis- 
tinction, up  to  the  rise  of  rag-time,  rested  upon 
rendition,  rather  than  upon  composition.  For  the 
past  few  years,  however,  music  sheets  by  Negro  au- 
thors have  been  flying  from  the  press  as  thick  as 
the  traditional  autumn  leaves.  There  has  scarcely 
been  a  musical  collection,  so  the  critics  tell  us, 
during  that  interval  that  has  not  contained 
songs  by  Negro  authors.  Colored  troupes  in 
the  roles  of  Negro  authorship  or  improvisation  have 
crowded  the  largest  theaters  in  all  parts  of  the  land. 
Several  such  troupes  have  undertaken  European  tours 
with  marked  success.  There  is  a  group  of  Negro 
composers  in  New  York  whose  works  bear  the  imprint 
of  the  best-known  publishing  houses.  Some  of  them 
have  accumulated  fortunes  from  their  composition 
and  performance.  Such  famous  pieces  as  "  All 
Coons  Look  Alike  to  Me,"  "  Under  the  Bamboo 
Tree,"  and  "  Go  'Way  Back  and  Sit  Down,"  are 
sung  between  the  oceans  and,  indeed,  around  the 
world.  Gussie  L.  Davis,  the  most  famous  Negro  com- 
poser, died  a  few  years  ago.     He  belonged  to  the 


242  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

era  of  the  "  story-song  "  and  did  not  attempt  any 
piece  of  purely  Negro  sentiment.  Whenever  the 
world  plays  or  thrums,  or  hums,  or  whistles,  or  sings 
"The  Light-House  by  the  Sea,"  "The  Baggage 
Coach  Ahead,"  or  "  The  Fatal  Wedding,"  it  pays 
homage  to  the  musical  genius  of  the  Negro  race. 

The  Negro  race  is  indeed  a  highly  musical  people. 
The  love  of  music  crops  out  everywhere.  The  back 
room  of  every  Negro  barbershop  is  a  young  conserva- 
tory of  music.  In  the  ordinary  Negro  household  the 
piano  is  as  common  a  piece  of  furniture  as  the  rock- 
ing-chair or  center-table.  That  rosewood  piano  in  a 
log  cabin  in  Alabama,  which  Dr.  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington's burlesque  has  made  famous,  is  a  most  con- 
vincing, if  somewhat  grotesque,  illustration  of  the 
musical  genius  of  the  Negro  race.  Music  satisfies 
the  Negro's  longing  as  nothing  else  can  do.  All  hu- 
man faculties  strive  to  express  or  utter  themselves. 
They  do  not  wait  upon  any  fixed  scheme  or  order  of 
development  to  satisfy  our  social  philosophy.  When 
the  fires  of  genius  burn  in  the  soul  it  will  not  await 
the  acquiring  of  a  bank  account  or  the  building  of  a 
fine  mansion  before  gratifying  its  cravings.  The 
famished  Elijah,  under  a  juniper  tree,  was  the  pur- 
veyor of  God's  message  to  a  wicked  king.  Socrates 
in  poverty  and  rags  pointed  out  to  mankind  the  path 
of  moral  freedom.  John  the  Baptist,  clad  in  leather 
girdle,  and  living  on  the  wild  fruits  of  the  fields, 
proclaimed  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Would  it  be  blasphemy  to  add,  that  the  Son  of  Man, 
while  dwelling  in  the  flesh,  had  not  where  to  lay  His 
head?  Our  modern  philosophy  would  have  advised 
that  these  enthusiasts  cease  their  idle  ravings,  go  to 
work,  earn  an  honest  living,  and  leave  the  pursuit  of 
truth  and  spiritual  purity  to  those  who  had  acquired 
a  competency.     Is  it  a  part  of  God's  economy  that 


ARTISTIC    GIFTS    OF    THE    NEGRO 

the  higher  susceptibilities  of  the  soul  must  wait  upon 
the  lower  faculties  of  the  body.  Should  Tanner 
paint  no  pictures  because  his  race  is  ignorant  and 
poor?  Should  a  Dunbar  cease  to  woo  the  Muses  till 
every  Negro  learns  a  trade?  The  Negro  in  poverty 
and  rags,  in  ignorance  and  unspeakable  physical 
wretchedness,  uttered  forth  those  melodies  which  are 
sure  to  lift  mankind  at  least  a  little  higher  in  the 
scale  of  spiritual  purity. 

There  are  scattered  indications  that  the  Negro 
possesses  ambition  and  capacity  for  high-grade  clas- 
sical music.  The  love  of  music  is  not  only  a  natural 
passion,  it  is  becoming  a  cultivated  taste.  The  choirs 
of  the  best  colored  churches  usually  render  at  least 
one  high-grade  selection  at  each  service.  Blind  Tom 
and  Black  Patti  are  at  least  individual  instances  of 
the  highest  musical  susceptibility.  There  are  nu- 
merous colored  men  and  women  who  have  completed 
courses,  both  instrumental  and  vocal,  in  the  best 
American  conservatories,  and  several  have  pursued 
their  studies  under  famous  European  masters.  In 
almost  every  center  where  a  goodly  number  of  culti- 
vated colored  people  are  to  be  found,  there  is  a  mu- 
sical organization  devoted  to  the  rendition  of  the 
standard  works  of  the  great  composers. 

But  music  is  only  one  of  the  forms  of  art  in  which 
the  Negro  has  given  encouraging  manifestations. 
Frederick  Douglass  was  among  the  foremost  orators 
of  the  anti-slavery  crusade,  the  second  great  oratori- 
cal epoch  in  the  annals  of  American  history.  Booker 
T.  Washington,  according  to  some,  is  the  most  ef- 
fective living  orator  that  speaks  the  English  tongue. 
Phyllis  Wheatley,  the  Black  Daughter  of  the  Sun; 
and  Dunbar,  the  peerless  poet  of  lowly  life,  wooed 
the  Muse  of  Song,  who  did  not  disdain  their  suit 
because  their  skin  was   dark.     Pictures  by  Tanner 


244  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

adorn  the  walls  of  many  a  gallery  in  two  hemi- 
spheres, one  of  which  is  on  its  way  to  the  Louvre.  If 
we  might  be  permitted  to  cross  the  ocean  and  include 
those  whom  the  Negro  race  can  claim  through  some 
strain  of  their  blood,  Pushkin  stands  as  the  national 
poet  of  Russia,  and  the  Dumas  as  the  leading  ro- 
mancers of  France.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  names 
which  the  Negroes  have  contributed  to  the  galaxy 
of  the  world's  greatness  are  confined  almost  wholly 
to  the  fine  arts.  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  stands  al- 
most alone  among  Negroes  of  whose  fame  the  world 
takes  account,  whose  renown  rests  upon  solid 
deeds. 

The  Negro's  order  of  development  follows  that  of 
the  human  race.  The  imaginative  powers  are  the 
first  to  emerge;  exact  knowledge  and  its  practical 
application  come  at  a  later  stage.  The  first  superla- 
tive Negro  will  rise  in  the  domain  of  the  arts.  The 
poet,  the  artist  and  the  musician  come  before  the 
engineer  and  the  administrator.  The  Negro  who  is 
to  quicken  and  inspire  his  race  will  not  be  a  master 
mechanic  nor  yet  a  man  of  profound  erudition  in 
the  domain  of  exact  knowledge,  but  a  man  of  vision 
with  powers  to  portray  and  project.  The  epic  of 
the  Negro  race  has  not  yet  been  written ;  its  aspira- 
tions and  strivings  still  await  portrayal.  Whenever 
a  Dunbar  or  a  Chestnut  breaks  upon  us  with  surpris- 
ing imaginative  and  pictorial  power,  his  race  becomes 
expectant  and  begins  to  ask,  "  Art  thou  he  that 
should  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another?  " 

Mr.  W.  D.  Howells,  writing  in  the  introduction 
of  Mr.  Dunbar's  first  volume  of  poems,  says :  "  I 
said  that  a  race  which  had  come  to  this  effect  in  any 
member  of  it,  had  attained  civilization  in  him,  and 
I  permitted  myself  the  imaginative  prophecy  that 


ARTISTIC    GIFTS    OF    THE    NEGRO     245 

the  hostilities  and  prejudices  which  had  so  long  con- 
strained his  race  were  destined  to  vanish  in  the  arts ; 
that  these  were  to  be  the  final  proof  that  God  had 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men.  I  accepted 
them  as  an  evidence  of  the  essential  unity  of  the 
human  race." 


THE  EARLY  STRUGGLE  FOR  EDUCATION 

A  full  knowledge  of  the  education  of  the  Negro 
cannot  be  had  without  making  some  reference  to  the 
earlier  educational  efforts.  ,ut  is  well  known  that 
slavery  discouraged  the  dissemination  of  literary 
knowledge  among  persons  of  African  descent,  and, 
in  most  cases,  this  discouragement  amounted  to  a 
positive  prohibition)  But  despite  the  rigid  regula- 
tions of  the  slave  regime  there  were  many  kind- 
hearted  slaveholders  who  taught  their  slaves  to  read 
and  write.  /  Many  others  picked  up  such  knowledge 
in  ways  which  it  is  mysterious  to  comprehend.  The 
fact  that  book  information  was  withheld  from  the 
Negro  made  him  all  the  more  anxious  to  acquire  itP 
Stolen  waters  are  sweet,  and  the  fact  that  they  are 
forbidden  leads  those  from  whom  the  privilege  is 
withheld  to  suspect  that  they  possess  mysterious  effi- 
cacy. Such  hungering  and  thirsting  after  knowl- 
edge amid  dark  and  dismal  discouragements  is 
surely  a  compliment  to  the  intellectual  taste  of  the 
African.  The  antebellum  struggle  of  the  free  col- 
ored people  and  the  more  ambitious  slaves  to  acquire 
the  use  of  printed  characters  is  almost  incomprehen- 
sible in  view  of  the  liberal  educational  provisions  of 
these  latter  days.  The  experience  of  Frederick 
Douglass  was  not  without  many  parallels  and  coun- 
terparts.    In  his  autobiography  he  tells  us: 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  my  stay  here  (in  Balti- 
more) was  my  learning  to  read  and  write  under  somewhat 
marked  disadvantages.  In  obtaining  this  knowledge,  I  was 
compelled   to    resort   to    indirections    by   no   means    congenial 

246 


EARLY    STRUGGLE    FOR    EDUCATION    247 

to  my  nature,  and  which  were  really  humiliating  to  my  sense 
of  candor  and  uprightness.  My  mistress,  checked  in  her 
benevolent  designs  towards  me,  not  only  ceased  instructing 
me  herself  but  set  her  face  as  a  flint  against  my  learning 
to-  read  by  any  means. 

(jShe  would  rush  to  me  with  the  utmost  fury,  and  snatch 
the  book  or  paper  from  my  hand  with  something  of  the  wrath 
and  consternation  which  a  traitor  might  be  supposed  to  feel 
on  being  discovered  in  a  plot  by  some  dangerous  spy.  The 
conviction  once  thoroughly  established  in  her  mind  that  edu- 
cation and  slavery  were  incompatible  with  each  other,  I  was 
most  narrowly  watched  in  all  my  movements.  If  I  remained 
in  a  separate  room  from  the  family  for  any  considerable 
length  of  time,  I  was  sure  to  be  suspected  of  having  a  book, 
and  was  at  once  called  to  give  an  account  of  myself.  Teaching 
me  the  alphabet  had  been  the  "  inch  "  given ;  I  was  now  wait- 
ing only  for  the  opportunity  to  take  the  "ell."  Filled  with 
determination  to  read  at  any  cost,  I  hit  upon  many  expedients 
to  attain  my  desired  end.  The  plan  which  I  mainly  adopted, 
and  the  one  which  was  most  successful,  was  that  of  using 
my  white  playmates,  with  whom  I  met  in  the  streets,  as 
teachers.  I  used  to  carry  almost  constantly  a  copy  of  Web- 
ster's Spelling  Book  in  my  pocket,  and  when  sent  on  errands, 
or  when  playtime  was  allowed  me,  I  would  step  aside  with 
my  young  friends   and  take  a  lesson  in  spelling. 

Meanwhile  I  resolved  to  add  to  my  educational  attain- 
ments the  art  of  writing.  After  this  manner  I  began  to  learn 
to  write.  I  was  much  in  the  shipyard,  and  observed  that  the 
carpenters  after  hewing  and  getting  ready  a  piece  of  timber 
to  use,  wrote  on  the  initials  of  the  name  of  that  part  of 
the  ship  for  which  it  was  intended.  When,  for  instance, 
a  piece  of  timber  was  ready  for  the  starboard  side,  it  was 
marked  with  a  capital  8;  a  piece  for  the  larboard  side  was 
marked  L;  larboard  aft  marked  L.  A.;  starboard  aft  8.  A.; 
starboard  forward  8.  F.  I  soon  learned  these  letters,  and 
for  what  they  were  placed  on  the  timbers.  My  work  now  was 
to  keep  fire  under  the  steam-box,  and  to  watch  the  shipyard 
while  the  carpenters  had  gone  to  dinner.  This  interval  gave 
me  a  fine  opportunity  to  copy  the  letters  named.  I  soon  as- 
tonished myself  with  the  ease  in  which  I  made  the  letters, 
and  the  thought  was  soon  present,  if  I  can  make  four  letters, 
I  can  make  more.  With  playmates  for  my  teachers,  fences 
and  pavement  for  my  copy-books,  and  chalk  for  my  pen  and 
ink,  I  learned  to  write. 


248  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

This  was  the  university  training  of  the  most  illus- 
trious American  Negro,  which  could  be  duplicated  in 
the  experience  of  thousands  of  his  fellow-slaves  who 
remained  "  mute  and  inglorious." 

A  different  and  less  strenuous  phase  of  early  edu- 
cational opportunities  may  be  found  in  the  experi- 
ence of  another  distinguished  colored  American,  the 
late  Prof.  John  Mercer  Langston.  Mr.  Langston 
thus  recounts  the  early  schooling  of  his  brother: 

His  father  (a  Virginia  white  man),  manifesting  the  deep- 
est interest  in  him,  sought  by  his  own  efforts  and  influence 
to  give  him  such  thorough  English  education,  with  general  in- 
formation, and  mental  and  moral  improvement,  so  as  to  make 
him  a  useful  man.  He  (at  7  years)  was  required  to  appear 
for  his  recitations  at  his  father's  special  apartments  the  year 
around  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

A  second  brother  was  put  through  the  same  re- 
gime, and  John  M.,  though  too  young  for  definite 
training  when  his  father  died,  had  ample  provision 
made  for  his  education. 

These  citations  represent  two  phases  of  Negro  edu- 
cation before  the  Civil  War.  The  one  gives  a  picture 
of  the  dauntless,  self-impelling  determination  to  gain 
knowledge  at  any  cost;  the  other,  the  kind  and 
genial  disposition  of  a  father-master,  in  spite  of  the 
rigorous  requirements  of  the  law.  These  instances 
may  be  regarded  as  typical,  and  might  be  multiplied 
by  hundreds  and  thousands.  There  were  also  organ- 
ized efforts  for  the  education  of  the  colored  race. 
Schools  were  established  for  the  free  colored  people 
within  the  limits  of  the  slave  territory.  These  were 
mainly  in  the  large  cities.  A  careful  and  detailed 
study  of  such  early  educational  efforts  for  the  sev- 
eral States  and  cities  affords  a  rich  field  for  interest- 
ing and  valuable  monographic  writing.     This  chap- 


EARLY    STRUGGLE    FOR    EDUCATION    249 

ter  attempts  little  more  than  to  present  some  of  the 
hindrances,  embarrassments,  personal  and  economic 
sacrifices  under  which  the  Negro  in  the  slave  terri- 
tory labored  during  the  dark  days  of  slavery,  in  order 
to  secure  what  he  considered  the  talismanic  power  of 
knowledge. 
/     In  Alabama  the  law  of  1832  provided  that  "  any 
/  person  or  persons  that  shall  attempt  to  teach  any 
\free  person  of  color,  or  slave,  to  spell,  read,  or  write, 
shall  upon  conviction  thereof  by  indictment,  be  fined    \ 
in  a  sum  of  not  less  than  $250,  nor  more  than  $500.n->^ 

(\yl  1833  the  mayor  and  aldermen  of  the  city  of 
Mobile  were  authorized  by  law  to  grant  licenses  to 
such  persons  as  they  might  deem  suitable  to  instruct 
for  limited  periods  the  free  colored  Creole  children 
within  the  city  and  in  the  counties  of  Mobile  and 
Baldwin,  who  were  the  descendants  of  colored  Creoles 
residing  in  said  city  and  counties  in  April,  1803,  pro- 
vided, that  said  children  first  receive  permission  to 
be  taught  from  the  mayor  and  aldermen  and  have 
their  names  recorded  in  a  book  kept  for  the  purpose. 
This  was  done,  as  set  forth  in  the  preamble  of  the 
law,  because  there  were  many  colored  Creoles  there 
whose  ancestors,  under  the  treaty  between  France 
and  the  United  States  in  1803,  had  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  secured  to 
them,    j 

/  Arkansas  seems  to  have  had  no  law  in  the  statute 
■book  prohibiting  the  teaching  of  persons  of  African 
descent,  although  the  law  of  1838  forbade  any  white 
person  or  free  Negro  from  being  found  in  the  com- 
pany of  slaves  or  in  any  unlawful  meeting,  under 
severe  penalty  for  each  offense.  In  1843  all  migra- 
tions of  free  Negroes  and  mulattoes  into  the  State 
was  forbidden.      ) 

There   was   no   law   expressly   forbidding   the   in- 


( 


250  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

struction  of  slaves  or  free  colored  people  in  the 
State  of  Delaware  until  1863,  when  an  enactment 
against  all  assemblages  for  the  instruction  of  col- 
ored people,  and  forbidding  all  meetings  except  for 
religious  purposes  and  for  the  burial  of  the  dead, 
was  made.    \ 

While  the  free  colored  people  were  taxed  to  a 
certain  extent  for  school  purposes,  they  could  not 
enjoy  the  privileges  of  public  instruction  thus  pro- 
vided, and  were  left  for  many  years  to  rely  prin- 
cipally upon  individual  efforts  among  themselves  and 
friends  for  the  support  of  a  few  occasional  schools. 
In  1840  the  Friends  formed  the  African  School  As- 
sociation in  the  city  of  Wilmington,  and  by  its  aid 
two  very  good  schools,  male  and  female,  were  estab- 
lished in  that  place.  / 

In  1828  the  State  of  Florida  passed  an  act  to 
provide  for  the  establishment  of  common  schools, 
but  white  children  only  of  a  specified  age  were  en- 
titled to  school  privileges. 

In  Georgia  the  following  law  was  enacted  in  1829 : 


If  any  slave,  Negro,  or  free  person  of  color,  or  any  white 
person,  shall  teach  any  other  slave,  Negro,  or  free  person  of 
color  to  read  or  write,  either  written  or  printed  characters, 
the  said  free  person  of  color  or  slave  shall  be  punished  by 
fine  and  whipping,  or  fine  or  whipping,  at  the  discretion  of 
the  court;  and  if  a  white  person  so  offend  he,  she,  or  they 
shall  be  punished  with  a  fine  not  exceeding  $500  and  imprison- 
ment in  the  common  jail,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court.     *\ 

In  1833  a  penalty  not  excelling  $500  was  pro- 
vided for  the  employment  of  any  slave  or  free  per- 
son of  color  in  setting  up  type  or  other  labor  about 
a  printing-office  requiring  a  knowledge  of  reading 
or  writing.  The  code  remained  in  force  until  swept 
away  by  events  of  the  Civil  War.      } 


EARLY    STRUGGLE    FOR    EDUCATION    251 

/in  1833  the  city  of  Savannah  adopted  an  or- 
dinance "  that  if  any  person  shall  teach  or  cause  to 
be  taught  any  slave  or  free  person  of  color  to  read 
or  write  within  the  city,  or  shall  keep  a  school  for 
that  purpose,  he  or  she  shall  be  fined  in  a  sum  not 
exceeding  $100  for  each  and  every  such  offense; 
and  if  the  offender  be  a  slave  or  free  person  of 
color,  he  or  she  may  also  be  whipped  not  exceeding 
thirty-nine  lashes."  ) 

Notwithstanding  this  severe  enactment,  there 
were,  nevertheless,  several  schools  for  colored  children 
clandestinely  kept  in  Augusta  and  Savannah.  The 
poor  whites  would  often  teach  Negro  children  clan- 
destinely. If  an  officer  of  the  law  came  round  the 
children  were  hastily  dispatched  to  the  fictitious  duty 
of  "  picking  chips."  The  most  noted  Negro  school 
was  opened  in  1818  or  1819  by  a  colored  man  from 
Santo  Domingo.  Up  to  1829  this  school  was  taught 
openly.  The  law  of  that  year  made  concealment  and 
secrecy  a  necessity. 

(  In  Kentucky  the  school  system  was  established  in 
1830.  In  this  provision  the  property  of  colored 
people  was  included  in  the  basis  of  taxation,  but  they 
were  excluded  from  school  privileges.  / 
/Louisiana,  in  1830,  provided  that  whoever  should 
write,  publish,  or  describe  anything  having  a  pen- 
dency to  produce  discontent  among  the  free  popula- 
tion or  insubordination  among  the  slaves,  should 
upon  conviction  be  imprisoned  at  hard  labor  for  life 
or  suffer  death,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court.  It 
was  also  provided  that  all  persons  who  should  teach 
or  permit  or  cause  to  be  taught  any  slave  to  read 
or  write  should  be  imprisoned  not  less  than  one 
month  or  more  than  twelve.   ) 

In  1847  a  system  of  public  schools  was  established 
for  the  education  of  white  youth,  and  one  mill  on  the 


252  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

dollar  upon  the  ad  valorem  amount  of  the  general 
list  of j  taxable  property  might  be  levied  for  its  sup- 
port. ?  Prior  to  the  Civil  War  the  only  schools  for 
colored  youth  in  Louisiana  were  a  few  private  ones 
in *the  city  of  New  Orleans  among  the  Creoles.) 

St.  Francis  Academy  for  colored  girls  was  founded 
in  connection  with  the  Oblate  Sisters,  in  Baltimore, 
Md.,  and  received  the  sanction  of  the  Holy  See  Oc- 
tober 2,  1831.  There  were  many  colored  Catholic 
refugees  who  came  to  Baltimore  from  Santo  Do- 
mingo. The  colored  women  who  formed  the  original 
society  which  founded  the  convent  and  seminary  were 
from  Santo  Domingo.  The  Sisters  of  Providence 
is  the  name  of  a  religious  society  of  colored  women 
who  renounced  the  world  to  consecrate  themselves  to 
the  Christian  education  of  colored  girls.  This  school 
is  still  in  successful  operation.  A  colored  man  by 
the  name  of  Nelson  Wells  left  by  will  to  trustees 
$7,000,  the  income  of  which  was  to  be  applied  to  the 
education  of  free  colored  children.  The  Nelson 
Wells  school  continued  from  1835  to  the  close  of 
the   Civil  War./ 

Dr.  Bokkelen,  State  superintendent  of  education, 
recommended  in  1864  the  establishment  of  colored 
schools  on  the  same  basis  as  those  of  the  whites,  and 
states  in  his  recommendation: 

I  am  informed  that  the  amount  of  school  tax  paid  annually 
by  these  [colored]  people  to  educate  the  white  people  in  the 
city  of  Baltimore  for  many  years  has  been  more  than  $500. 
The  rule  of  fair  play  would  require  that  this  be  refunded 
unless  the  State  at  once  provided  schools  under  this  title. 

By  an  act  of  January,  1833,  the  legislature  of 
Mississippi  provided  that  the  meeting  of  slaves  and 
mulattoes  above  the  number  of  five  at  any  place  or 
public  resort  or  meeting-house  in  the  night  or  at  any 


EARLY    STRUGGLE    FOR    EDUCATION    253 

schoolhouse  for  teaching,  reading  or  writing  in  the 
day  or  night  was  to  be  considered  an  unlawful  as- 
sembly. In  1846  an  act  was  passed  establishing  a 
system  of  public  schools  from  all  escheats  and  all 
fines,  forfeitures,  and  amercement  from  licenses  to 
hawkers  and  all  income  from  school  lands.  These 
schools  were  for  the  education  of  white  youths.  J 

/The  legislature  of  Missouri  in  1847  provided  that 
no  person  should  teach  any  schools  for  Negroes  or 
mulattoes.  J 

In  North  Carolina  until  1835  public  opinion  per- 
mitted the  colored  residents  to  maintain  schools  for 
the  education  of  their  children.  These  were  taught 
sometimes  by  white  persons,  but  frequently  by  col- 
ored teachers.  After  this  period  colored  children 
could  only  be  educated  by  confining  their  teaching 
within  the  circle  of  their  own  family  or  by  going  out 
of  the  limits  of  their  own  State,  in  which  event  they 
were  prohibited  by  law  from  returning  home.  The 
public  system  of  North  Carolina  declared  that  no 
descendant  of  Negro  ancestors  to  the  fourth  genera- 
tion, inclusive,   should  enjoy   the  benefits   thereof. 

/in  1740,  while  yet  a  British  colony,  South  Caro- 
lina took  the  lead  in  directly  legislating  against  the 
education  of  the  colored  race: 

Whereas  the  having  of  slaves  taught  to  write,  or  suffering 
them  to  be  employed  in  writing,  may  be  attended  with  in- 
convenience, be  it  enacted,  That  all  and  any  person  or  per- 
sons whatsoever,  who  shall  hereafter  teach  or  cause  any 
slave  or  slaves  to  be  taught,  or  shall  use  or  employ  any  slave 
as  scribe  in  any  manner  of  writing  whatever,  hereafter  taught 
to  write,  every  such  person  or  persons  shall  for  every  such 
offense  forfeit  the  sum  of  £100  current  money. 

In  1800  free  colored  people  were  included  in  this 
provision.     In  1834  it  was  provided: 


; 


254  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

If  any  person  shall  hereafter  teach  any  slave  to  read  or 
write,  or  shall  aid  or  assist  in  teaching  any  slave  to  read  or 
write,  or  cause  or  procure  any  slave  to  be  taught  to  read 
or  write,  such  person,  if  a  free  white  person,  upon  convic- 
tion thereof,  shall,  for  each  and  every  offense  against  this 
act,  be  fined  not  exceeding  $100  and  (suffer)  imprisonment 
not  more  than  six  months;  or  if  a  free  person  of  color,  shall 
be  whipped  not  exceeding  50  lashes.  .  .  .  And  if  any  free 
person  of  color  or  slave  shall  keep  any  school  or  other  place 
of  instruction  for  teaching  any  slave  or  free  person  of  color 
to  read  or  write,  such  free  person  of  color  shall  be  liable  to 
the  same  fine,  imprisonment,  and  corporal  punishment. 


And  yet  there  were  colored  schools  in  Charleston 
from  1744  to  the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 

In  1838  Tennessee  provided  a  system  of  public 
schools  for  the  education  of  white  children  between 
the  ages  of  6  and  16,  but  the  colored  children  never 
enjoyed  any  of  its  benefits,  although  the  free  col- 
ored people  contributed  their  due  share  to  the  public 
fund. 

Texas  never  expressly  forbade  the  instruction  of 
Negroes,  although  the  harsh  and  severe  restrictions 
placed  upon  the  race  made  a  provision  scarcely 
necessary. 

In  1831  the  general  assembly  of  Virginia  enacted, 
among  others,  the  following  provisions: 


That  all  meetings  of  free  Negroes  or  mulattoes  of  any 
schoolhouse,  church,  meeting-house,  or  other  place  for  teach- 
ing them  reading  or  writing,  either  in  the  day  or  night,  under 
whatsoever  pretext,  shall  be  deemed  an  unlawful  assembly. 
.  If  any  white  person  or  persons  assemble  with  free 
Negroes  or  mulattoes  at  any  schoolhouse,  church,  meeting- 
house, or  other  place  for  the  purpose  of  instructing  such 
free  Negroes  or  mulattoes  to  read  or  write,  such  person  or 
persons  shall,  on  conviction  thereof,  be  fined  in  a  sum  not 
exceeding  $50,  and,  moreover,  may  be  imprisoned,  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  a  jury,  not  exceeding  two  months. 


EARLY    STRUGGLE    FOR    EDUCATION    255 

It  is  known,  however,  that  schools  for  the  colored 
children  were  established  and  maintained  in  such 
cities  as  Petersburg,  Norfolk,  and  Richmond. 

The  early  educational  efforts  of  the  colored  people 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  have  been  studied  with 
more  fulness  than  those  of  any  other  Southern  com- 
munity. He  who  presents  the  movement  in  Balti- 
more, Richmond,  Louisiana,  Charleston,  and  other 
Southern  centers  with  as  much  detail  and  accuracy 
will  render  no  inconsiderable  service  to  the  history 
of   education. 

There  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  express  law 
forbidding  the  education  of  colored  people  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  In  1807  the  first  schoolhouse 
for  the  use  of  colored  pupils  was  erected  by  three 
colored  men, — George  Bell,  Nicholas  Franklin,  and 
Moses  Liverpool, — not  one  of  whom  knew  a  letter  of 
the  alphabet.  They  had  been  former  slaves  in  Vir- 
ginia, and,  like  others  of  their  condition,  had  an  ex- 
alted notion  of  literary  knowledge.  A  white  teacher 
was  secured.  From  this  time  to  the  opening  of  the 
new  regime,  brought  on  by  the  Civil  War,  there  was 
a  tolerably  adequate  number  of  schools,  supported 
mainly  by  the  colored  people  themselves,  but  not 
without  assistance  from  Northern  philanthropy. 
But  that  these  schools  did  not  always  have  plain  and 
smooth  sailing  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
in  18S5,  on  account  of  an  alleged  indiscreet  utter- 
ance of  a  colored  resident,  colored  schools  were  at- 
tacked by  a  mob,  some  of  them  burned,  and  property 
destroyed,  while  the  most  conspicuous  Negro  teacher, 
Mr.  John  F.  Cook,  was  compelled  to  flee  for  his  life. 
This  outbreak  is  known  as  the  "  Snow  Riot." 

Many  of  the  best-known  names  in  the  District 
were  both  products  of  and  factors  in  these  early 
schools,  the  most  noted  of  whom,  perhaps,  is  Mr- 


256  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

John  F.  Cook  2nd,  who  subsequently  became  a  tax 
collector  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  For  substance, 
dignity  and  influence  he  stands  as  one  of  the  con- 
spicuous names  of  the  National  Capital,  regardless 
of  race  distinction.  His  brother,  George  F.  T.  Cook, 
who  was  both  a  pupil  and  a  teacher  in  the  antebellum 
schools,  subsequently  became  superintendent  of  the 
colored  public  schools  of  Washington  and  George- 
town,  which  position   he  held   for  thirty   years. 

This  survey  has  been  limited  to  the  Southern  or 
slave  States.  In  the  free  States  of  the  North,  the 
Negro  had  a  more  picturesque  and  exciting  educa- 
tional experience.  The  Northern  States  did  not  ex- 
pressly forbid  the  education  of  colored  persons,  but 
the  hostility  to  such  movements  is  attested  by  many 
a  local  outbreak. 

It  was  amid  such  dangers  and  difficulties  that  the 
Negro  began  his  educational  career.  It  must  not  be 
for  a  moment  supposed,  however,  that  the  laws  above 
referred  to  were  rigidly  enforced.  It  is  known  that 
pious  and  generous  slaveholders  quite  generally 
taught  their  favorite  slaves  to  read,  regardless  of 
the  inexorable  provisions  of  law.  Quite  a  goodly 
number  also  learned  the  art  of  letters  somewhat  after 
the  furtive  method  of  Frederick  Douglass ;  in  the 
cities,  schools  for  Negroes  were  conducted  in  avoid- 
ance, connivance,  or  defiance  of  ordinances  and  en- 
actments. 

f  In  1865  there  was  to  be  found  in  every  Southern 
community  a  goodly  sprinkling  of  colored  men  and 
women  who  had  previously  learned  how  to  read  and 
write.    ^ 

The  Censuses  of  1850  and  1860  give  the  number 
of  free  colored  people  attending  school  in  the  several 
States.  These  figures,  for  obvious  reasons,  represent 
only  a  small  fraction  of  the  Negroes,  free  and  slave, 


EARLY    STRUGGLE    FOR    EDUCATION    257 

who  were  openly  or  furtively  gaining  the  elements  of 
literary  knowledge.  The  decline  in  avowed  school 
attendance  between  1850  and  1860  is  due  to  the 
growing  intensity  of  feeling  which  culminated  dur- 
ing that  decade. 

Free  Negroes  Attending  School 


STATE 

1850 

1860 

STATE 

1850 

1860 

Delaware 

187 

1,616 

467 

64 

217 

80 

1 

66 

68 

250 
1,355 

678 

41 

133 

365 

7 

9 

114 

2 
275 

20 
11 

70 

288 

40 

11 

Maryland 

Dist.  of  Columbia 

Virginia 

North  Carolina.. 

Arkansas 

Tennessee 

Kentucky 

Missouri 

5 

92 

205 

155 

South  Carolina. . 

Georgia 

Florida 

Alabama 

Slave  States 
Free  States 
Total 

4,414    3,661 

28,  213  22,  800 

32,  627  26,  461 

Louisiana 

1,219 

It  will  be  noticed  that  most  of  the  enactments 
against  the  education  of  the  Negro  were  made  sub- 
sequently to  1830.  The  Nat  Turner  insurrection 
and  the  opening  up  of  the  anti-slavery  campaign  in 
the  North  had  a  decidedly  reactionary  effect  in  the 
slave  territory. 

A  people  who  have  made  such  sacrifice  and  run 
such  risks  for  the  sake  of  knowledge,  who  of  their 
own  scanty  means  Were  ever  willing  to  support 
schools  for  the  education  of  their  children,  although 
their  property  had  been  taxed  for  the  support  of 
an  educational  system  from  which  they  were  excluded, 
surely  deserve  a  larger  and  fuller  draught  of  that 
knowledge  of  which  the  regime  of  slavery  permitted 
them  to  gain  only  a  foretaste.  The  Civil  War  wiped 
out  all  of  these  restrictions,  and  at  its  close  the  Freed- 


258  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

men's  Bureau,  religious  and  benevolent  associations, 
and  the  reconstructed  governments  of  the  former 
slave  States,  threw  wide  open  the  gate  of  knowledge. 
The  avidity  and  zeal  with  which  the  erstwhile  sup- 
pressed population  seized  upon  the  new  opportunity 
furnish  the  most  interesting  chapter  in  the  history 
of  American  education.  Educational  opportunities 
were  thus  thrown  open  to  a  people  who  desired  and 
needed  them  above  all,  and  who  had  shown  by  long 
and  persistent  endeavor  that  they  were  fully  worthy 
and  deserving  of  them. 


A   BRIEF  FOR   THE    HIGHER    EDUCATION 
OF    THE    NEGRO 

Ridicule  and  contempt  have  characterized  the 
habitual  attitude  of  the  American  mind  toward  the 
Negro's  higher  strivings.  The  African  was  brought 
to  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  performing 
manual  and  menial  labor.  His  bodily  powers  alone 
were  required  to  accomplish  this  industrial  mission. 
No  more  account  was  taken  of  his  higher  suscepti- 
bilities than  of  the  mental  and  moral  faculties  of  the 
lower  animals.  As" the-  late  Mr.  Price  used  to  say, 
the  white  man  saw  in  the  Negro's  mind  only  what 
was  apparent  in  his  face,  "  darkness  there,  and 
nothing  more."  His  usefulness  in  the  world  is  still 
measured  by  physical  faculties  rather  than  by  quali- 
ties of  mind  and  soul.  The  merciless  proposition  of 
Carlyle,  that  the  Negro  is  useful  to  God's  creation 
only  as  a  servant,  still  finds  wide  acceptance.  It  is 
so  natural  to  base  a  theory  upon  a  long-established 
practice  that  one  no  longer  wonders  at  the  preva- 
lence of  this  belief.  The  Negro  has  sustained  servile 
relation  to  the  Caucasian  for  so  long  a  time  that 
it  is  as  easy  as  it  is  agreeable  to  Caucasian  pride  to 
conclude  that  servitude  is  his  ordained  place  in  so- 
ciety. When  it  was  first  proposed  to  furnish  means 
for  the  higher  development  of  this  race,  some,  who 
assumed  the  wisdom  of  their  day  and  generation,  en- 
tertained the  proposition  with  a  sneer;  others,  with 
a  smile. 

259 


260  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 


MANIFESTATIONS    OF    HIGHER    QUALITIES 

As  the  higher  susceptibilities  of  the  Negro  were 
not  wanted,  their  existence  was  at  one  time  denied. 
The  eternal  inferiority  of  the  race  was  assumed  as 
a  part  of  the  cosmic  order  of  things.  History,  litera- 
ture, science,  speculative  conjecture,  and  even  Holy 
Writ  were  ransacked  for  evidence  and  argument  to 
support  the  ruling  dogma.  While  the  slaveholder 
had  proved  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt  the  in- 
capacity of  the  Negro  for  knowledge,  yet  he,  pru- 
dently enough,  passed  laws  forbidding  the  attempt. 
His  guilty  conscience  caused  him  to  make  assurance 
doubly  sure  by  re-enacting  the  laws  of  the  Almighty. 

For  three  hundred  years  the  Negro  by  his  mar- 
velous assimilative  power  and  by  striking  individual 
emanations  has  been  constantly  manifesting  the 
higher  possibilities  of  his  nature,  until  now  whoever 
assumes  to  doubt  his  susceptibility  for  better  things 
needs  himself  to  be  pitied  for  his  incapacity  to  grasp 
the  truth.  The  same  Carlyle  who  regards  the  Negro 
as  an  "  amiable  blockhead,"  and  amenable  only  to 
the  white  man's  "  beneficent  whip,"  also  declares : 
"  That  one  man  should  die  ignorant  who  had  ca- 
pacity for  knowledge,  this  I  call  a  tragedy,  were  it 
to  happen  forty  times  in  a  minute."  When  it  is 
known  that  the  Negro  has  capacity  for  knowledge 
and  virtue  there  can  be  no  further  justification  for 
shutting  him  out  from  the  higher  cravings  of  his 
nature. 

IS     THE     HIGHER    EDUCATION     OF     THE    NEGRO     WORTH 
WHILE  AS  A   PRACTICAL   PHILANTHROPY? 

The  education  of  the  Negro  is  not  of  itself  a 
thing  apart,  but  is  an  integral  factor  of  the  general 
pedagogic  equation.     Race  psychology  has  not  yet 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     261 

been  formulated.  No  reputable  authority  has  pointed 
out  just  wherein  the  two  races  differ  in  any  evident 
mental  feature.  The  mind  of  the  Negro  is  of  the 
same  nature  as  that  of  the  white  man  and  needs  the 
same  nurture.  The  general  poverty  of  the  Negro, 
however,  and  his  inability  to  formulate  and  direct 
his  own  scheme  of  culture,  render  the  question  not 
so  much  one  of  abstract  pedagogics,  as  of  practical 
philanthropy.  The  philanthropist  is  supremely  in- 
different as  to  whether  an  individual,  white  or  black, 
should  study  Kant  or  Quaternious,  except  in  so  far 
as  the  resulting  development  reacts  beneficially  upon 
the  common  welfare.  Does  the  higher  education  of 
the  few  capable  Negroes  possess  sufficient  advantage 
to  the  race  at  large  to  justify  its  continuance  by  a 
wise  and  discriminating  philanthropy?  The  great 
missionary  societies,  representing  the  philanthropic 
arms  of  the  Congregational,  Presbyterian,  Meth- 
odist and  Baptist  denominations  after  forty  years 
of  arduous,  earnest  endeavor  and  the  expenditure  of 
many  millions  of  dollars  in  this  field,  answer  this 
question  emphatically  in  the  affirmative.  An  ounce 
of  opinion  from  such  sources  should  be  worth  a  ton 
of  speculation  from  those  who  reach  their  conclu- 
sions by  a  process  of  "  pure  reasoning." 

THE    FUNCTION    OF    EDUCATION    TO    A    BACKWARD    RACE 

The  African  was  snatched  from  the  wilds  of  sav- 
agery and  thrust  into  the  midst  of  a  mighty  civil- 
ization. He  thus  escaped  the  gradual  progress  of 
evolution.  Education  must  accomplish  more  for  a 
backward  race  than  for  a  people  who  are  in  the  fore- 
front of  progress.  It  must  not  only  lead  to  the  un- 
foldment  of  faculties  but  also  equip  for  a  life  from 
which  the  recipient  is  separated  by  many  centuries 
of  development.     The  African  chieftain  who  would 


262  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

make  a  pilgrimage  from  the  jungle  to  Boston  might 
accomplish  the  first  part  of  his  journey  by  the 
original  modes  of  transportation — in  the  primitive 
dugout  or  on  the  backs  of  his  slaves ;  but  he  would 
complete  it  upon  the  steamship,  the  railway,  the  elec- 
tric car  and  the  automobile.  How  swift  the  trans- 
formation and  yet  how  suggestive  of  centuries  of 
toil,  struggle  and  mental  endeavor.  It  required  the 
human  race  thousands  of  years  to  bridge  the  chasm 
between  savagery  and  civilization,  which  must  now 
be  crossed  by  a  school  curriculum  of  a  few  years' 
duration.  In  a  settled  state  of  society  the  chief 
function  of  education  is  to  enable  the  individual  to 
live  the  life  already  attained  by  his  race,  but  the 
educated  Negro  must  be  a  pioneer,  a  progressive 
force  in  the  uplifting  of  his  race,  and  that,  too,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  he  belongs  to  a  back- 
ward breed  that  has  never  taken  the  initiative  in 
the  progressive  movements  of  the  world. 

THE    HIGHER   TRAINING   OF    CHOICE   YOUTH 

The  first  great  need  of  the  Negro  is  that  the  choice 
youth  of  the  race  should  assimilate  the  principles  of 
culture  and  hand  them  down  to  the  masses  below. 
This  is  the  only  gateway  through  which  a  new  people 
may  enter  into  modern  civilization.  Herein  lies  the 
history  of  culture.  The  select  minds  of  the  back- 
ward race  or  nation  must  receive  the  new  cult  and 
adapt  it  to  the  peculiar  needs  of  their  own  people. 
Japan  looms  »up  as  the  most  progressive  of  the  non- 
Aryan  races.  The  wonderful  progress  of  these  Ori- 
ental Yankees  is  due  in  a  large  measure  to  their  wise 
plan  of  procedure.  They  send  their  picked  youth 
to  the  great  centers  of  western  knowledge;  but  be- 
fore this  culture  is  applied  to  their  own  needs  it 
must  first  be  sifted  through  the  sieve  of  their  native 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     263 

comprehension.  The  graduates  of  the  schools  and 
colleges  for  the  Negro  races  are  forming  centers  of 
civilizing  influence  in  all  parts  of  the  land,  and  we 
confidently  believe  that  these  grains  of  leaven  will 
ultimately  leaven  the  whole  lump. 

SELF-RELIANT     MANHOOD 

Another  great  need  of  the  race,  which  the  schools 
must  in  a  large  measure  supply,  is  self-reliant  man- 
hood. Slavery  made  the  Negro  as  dependent  upon 
the  intelligence  and  foresight  of  his  master  as  a  sol- 
dier upon  the  will  of  his  commander.  He  had  no 
need  to  take  thought  as  to  what  he  should  eat  or 
drink  or  wherewithal  he  should  be  clothed.  /^Knowl- 
edge necessarily  awakens  self-consciousness  of  power. 

When  a  child  learns  the  multiplication  table  he 
gets  a  clear  notion  of  intellectual  dignity.  Here  he 
gains  an  acquisition  which  is  his  permanent,  per- 
sonal possession,  and  which  can  never  be  taken  from 
him.  It  does  not  depend  upon  external  authority; 
he  could  reproduce  it  if  all  the  visible  forms  of  the 
universe  were  effaced.  It  is  said  that  the  possession 
of  personal  property  is  the  greatest  stimulus  to  self- 
respect.  When  one  can  read  his  title  clear  to  earthly 
possessions  it  awakens  a  consciousness  of  the  dignity 
of  his  own  manhood.  And  so  when  one  has  digested 
and  assimilated  the  principles  of  knowledge  he  can 
file  his  declaration  of  intellectual  independence.  He 
can  adopt  the  language  of  Montaigne,  "  Truth  and 
reason  are  common  to  every  one,  and  are  no  more 
his  who  spake  them  first  than  his  who  speaks  them 
after;  'tis  no  more  according  to  Plato  than  accord- 
ing to  me,  since  he  and  I  equally  see  and  understand 
them." 

Primary  principles  have  no  ethnic  quality.  We 
hear  much  in  this  day  and  time  of  the  white  man's 


264  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

civilization.  We  had  just  as  well  speak  of  the  white 
man's  multiplication  table.  Civilization  is  the  com- 
mon possession  of  all  who  assimilate  and  apply  its 
principles.  England  can  utilize  no  secret  art  or  in- 
vention that  is  not  equally  available  to  Japan.  We 
reward  ingenuity  with  a  patent  right  for  a  period  of 
years  upon  the  process  that  has  been  invented;  but 
when  an  idea  has  been  published  to  the  world  it  is  no 
more  the  exclusive  property  of  the  author  than  gold, 
after  it  has  been  put  in  circulation,  can  be  claimed 
by  the  miner  who  first  dug  it  from  its  hiding-place 
in  the  earth.  No  race  or  nation  can  preempt  civili- 
zation any  more  than  it  can  monopolize  the  atmos- 
phere which  surrounds  the  earth,  or  the  waters  which 
hold  it  in  their  liquid  embrace. 

I  have  often  noticed  a  young  man  accommodate 
his  companion  with  a  light  from  his  cigar.  After 
the  spark  has  once  been  communicated,  the  benefi- 
ciary stands  upon  an  equal  footing  with  the  bene- 
factor. In  both  cases  the  fire  must  be  continued  by 
drawing  fresh  supplies  of  oxygen  from  the  at- 
mosphere. From  whatever  source  a  nation  may  de- 
rive the  light  of  civilization,  it  must  be  perpetuated 
by  the  exercise  of  the  nation's  own  faculties.  Self- 
reliant  manhood  is  the  ultimate  basis  of  American 
citizenship. 


.. 


TRAINING     FOR     LEADERSHIP 


The  work  of  the  educated  colored  man  is  largely 
that  of  leadership.  He  requires,  therefore,  all  the 
discipline,  judgment  and  mental  equipment  that  long 
preparation  can  afford.  The  more  ignorant  and 
backward  the  masses  the  more  skilled  and  sagacious 
should  the  leaders  be.  If  a  beneficial  and  kindly 
contact  between  the  races  is  denied  on  the  lower 
plane  of  flesh  and  blood,  it  must  be  sought  in  the 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     265 

upper  region  of  mental  and  moral  kinship.  Knowl- 
edge and  virtue  know  no  ethnic  exclusiveness.  If 
indeed  races  are  irreconcilable,  their  best  individual 
exponents  are  not.  All  dignified  negotiation  must 
be  conducted  on  the  high  plane  of  individual  equality. 

"  For  east  is  east,  and  west  is  west,  and  never  the  twain  shall 
meet, 

Till  earth  and  sky  stand  presently  at  God's  great  judg- 
ment  seat; 

But  there  is  neither  east  nor  west,  border  nor  breed  nor 
birth, 

When  two  strong  men  stand  face  to  face,  though  they  come 
from  the  ends  of  the  earth." 

Irreconcilables  become  reconciled  only  after  each 
has  manifested  the  best  possibilities  of  a  common 
nature.  The  higher  education  tends  to  develop 
superior  individuals  who  may  be  expected  to  exer- 
cise controlling  influence  over  the  multitude.  The 
individual  is  the  proof,  the  promise  and  the  salvation 
of  the  race.  The  undeveloped  races  which,  in  modern 
times,  have  faded  before  the  breath  of  civilization 
have  probably  perished  because  of  their  failure  to 
produce  commanding  leaders  to  guide  them  wisely 
under  the  stress  and  strain  which  an  encroaching 
civilization  imposed.  A  single  red  Indian  with  the 
capacity  and  spirit  of  Booker  T.  Washington  might 
have  solved  the  red  man's  problems  and  averted  his 
pending  doom. 

THE     MORAL     IMPOTENCY     OF     ELEMENTARY    AND     ME- 
/  CHANICAL      KNOWLEDGE 

c^Again,  the  higher  education  should  be  encouraged 
because  of  the  moral  impotency  of  all  the  moods  of 
education  which  do  not  touch  and  stir  the  human 
spirit.  It  is  folly  to  suppose  that  the  moral  nature 
of  the  child  is  improved  because  it  has  been  taught 


266  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

to  read  and  write  and  cast  up  accounts,  or  to  prac- 
tice a  handicraft.  Tracing  the  letters  of  the  alphabet 
with  a  pen  has  no  bearing  on  the  Golden  Rule.  The 
spelling  of  words  by  sounds  and  syllables  does  not 
lead  to  observance  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  Drill 
in  the  multiplication  table  does  not  fascinate  the 
learner  with  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Rules  in 
grammar,  dates  in  history,  sums  in  arithmetic,  and 
points  in  geography  do  not  strengthen  the  grasp  on 
moral  truth.  The  ability  to  saw  a  line  or  hit  a 
nail  aplomb  with  a  hammer  does  not  create  a  zeal  for 
righteousness  and  truth.  It  is  only  when  the  pupil 
comes  to  feel  the  vitalizing  power  of  knowledge  that 
it  begins  to  react  upon  the  life  and  to  fructify  in 
character.  This  is  especially  true  of  a  backward 
race  whose  acquisitive  power  outruns  its  appercep- 
tive faculty. 

THE      SOCIAL     SEPARATION      OF      THE      RACES 

The  Negro  has  now  reached  a  critical  stage  in  his 
career.  The  point  of  attachment  between  the  races 
which  slavery  made  possible  has  been  destroyed.  The 
relation  is  daily  becoming  less  intimate  and  friendly, 
and  more  business-like  and  formal.  It  thus  becomes 
all  the  more  imperative  that  the  race  should  gain 
for  itself  the  primary  principles  of  knowledge  and 
culture. 

The  social  separation  of  the  races  in  America  ren- 
ders it  imperative  that  the  professional  classes  among 
the  Negroes  should  be  recruited  from  their  own 
ranks.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  professional 
places  are  filled  by  the  most  favored  class  in  the  com- 
munity. In  a  Latin  or  Catholic  country,  where  the 
fiction  of  "  social  equality  "  does  not  exist,  there  is 
felt  no  necessity  for  Negro  priest,  teacher,  or  physi- 
cian to  administer  to  his  own  race.     But  in  America 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     267 

this  is  conceded  to  be  a  social  necessity.  Such  being 
the  case,  the  Negro  leader,  to  use  a  familiar  term, 
requires  all  the  professional  equipment  of  his  white 
confrere,  and  special  knowledge  of  the  needs  and  cir- 
cumstances of  his  race  in  addition.  The  teacher  of 
the  Negro  child,  the  preacher  to  a  Negro  congrega- 
tion, or  the  physician  to  Negro  patients  certainly 
requires  as  much  professional  skill  as  those  who  ad- 
minister to  the  corresponding  needs  of  the  white  race. 
Nor  are  the  requirements  of  the  situation  one 
whit  diminished  because  the  bestower  is  of  the  same 
race  as  the  recipient.  The  Negro  has  the  same  pro- 
fessional needs  as  his  white  confrere  and  can  be  quali- 
fied for  his  function  only  by  courses  of  training  of 
like  extent  and  thoroughness.  By  no  other  means 
can  he  be  qualified  to  enlighten  the  ignorant,  restrain 
the  vicious,  care  for  the  sick  and  afflicted ;  administer 
solace  to  weary  souls,  or  plead  in  litigation  the  cause 
of  the  injured. 

THE      PROFESSIONAL      NEEDS      OF      THE      CITY      NEGRO 

According  to  the  census  of  1900  there  were  72 
cities  in  the  United  States  with  a  population  of  more 
than  5,000  persons  of  color,  averaging  15,000  each, 
and  aggregating  1,000,000  in  all.  The  professional 
needs  of  this  urban  population  for  teachers,  preach- 
ers, lawyers  and  physicians  call  for  5,000  well- 
equipped  men  and  women,  not  one  of  whom  would  be 
qualified  for  his  function  merely  by  the  three  R's 
or  a  handicraft. 

THE      EFFECT      OF      HIGHER      EDUCATION      UPON      THE 
RURAL      MASSES 

The  supreme  concern  of  philanthropy  is  the  wel- 
fare of  the  unawakened  rural  masses.  To  this  end 
there  is  need  of  a  goodly  sprinkling  of  well  educated 


268  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

men  and  women  to  give  wise  guidance,  direction  and 
control.  Let  no  one  deceive  himself  that  the  country 
Negro  can  be  uplifted  except  through  the  influence 
of  higher  contact.  It  is  impossible  to  inaugurate 
and  conduct  a  manual  training  or  industrial  school 
without  men  of  sound  academic  as  well  as  technical 
knowledge.  The  torch  which  is  to  lighten  the  dark- 
some places  of  the  South  must  be  kindled  at  the 
centers  of  light,   j 

THE      IMPORTANCE      OF      CULTIVATE!)      TASTE 

Rational  enjoyment,  through  moderation,  is  per- 
haps as  good  a  definition  as  can  be  given  of  culture. 
The  reaction  of  culture  on  conduct  is  a  well-known 
principle  of  practical  ethics.  The  Negro  race  is 
characterized  by  boisterousness  of  manner  and  ex- 
travagant forms  of  taste.  As  if  to  correct  such  de- 
ficiencies, his  higher  education,  hitherto,  has  largely 
been  concerned  with  Greek  and  Latin  literature,  the 
norms  of  modern  culture.  It  is  just  here  that  our 
educational  critics  are  liable  to  become  excited.  The 
spectacle  of  a  Negro  wearing  eye-glasses  and  de- 
claiming in  classic  phrases  about  the  "  lofty  walls 
of  Rome,"  and  the  "  wrath  of  Achilles  "  upsets  their 
critical  calmness  and  composure.  We  have  so  often 
listened  to  portrayals  of  the  grotesque  incon- 
gruity of  a  Greek  chorus  and  a  greasy  cabin  and 
the  relative  value  of  a  rosewood  piano  and  a  patch 
of  early  rose  potatoes  that  if  we  did  not  join  in 
the  smile  in  order  to  encourage  the  humor,  we 
should  do  so  out  of  sheer  weariness.  And  yet  we 
cannot  escape  the  conviction  that  one  of  the  Negro's 
chief  needs  is  a  higher  form  of  intellectual  and 
esthetic  taste. 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     269 


THE     RELATIVE     CLAIMS     OF     INDUSTRIAL    AND     HIGHER 
EDUCATION 


w 


Whenever  the  higher  education  of  the  Negro  is 
broached,  industrial  training  is  always  suggested  as 
a  counter-irritant.  Partisans  of  rival  claims  align 
themselves  in  hostile  array  and  will  not  so  much  as 
respect  a  flag  of  truce.  These  one-eyed  enthusiasts 
lack  binocular  vision.  ;  The  futile  discussion  as  to 
whether  industrial  or  higher  education  is  of  greater 
importance  to  the  Negro  is  suggestive  of  a  subject 
of  great  renown  in  rural  debating  societies :  which 
is  of  greater  importance  to  man,  air  or  water.  We 
had  as  well  attempt  to  decide  whether  the  base  or 
altitude  is  the  more  important  element  of  a  triangle. 
(  The  two  forms  of  training  should  be  considered  on 

'•■  the  basis  of  their  relative,  not  rival,  claims. 

) 

THE      HIGHER     EDUCATION    STIMULATES     INDUSTRIAL 
ACTIVITY 

Indeed,  one  of  the  strongest  claims  for  the  higher 
education  of  the  Negro  is  that,  it  will  stimulate  the 
dormant  industrial  activities  of  the  race.  The  surest 
way  to  incite  a  people  to  meet  the  material  demands 
of  life  is  to  teach  them  that  life  is  more  than  meat. 
The  unimaginative  laborer  pursues  the  routine  rounds 
of  his  task,  spurred  on  only  by  the  immediate  neces- 
sities of  life  and  the  taskmaster's  stern  command. 
To  him,  it  is  only  time  and  the  hour  that  run  through 
the  whole  day.  The  Negro  lacks  enlightened  imagi- 
nation. He  needs  prospect  and  vista.  He  does  not 
make  provision  because  he  lacks  prevision.  Under 
slavery  he  toiled  as  the  ass,  dependent  upon  the 
daily  allowance  from  his  master's  crib.  To  him  the 
prayer,  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread,  has  a  ma- 
terial rather  than  a  spiritual  meaning.   If  you  would 


270  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

perpetuate  the  industrial  incapacity  of  the  Negro, 
then  confine  him  to  the  low  grounds  of  drudgery  and 
toil  and  prevent  him  from  casting  his  eyes  unto  the 
hills  whence  come  inspiration  and  promise.  The  man 
with  the  hoe  is  of  all  men  most  miserable  unless,  for- 
sooth, he  has  a  hope.  But  if  imbued  with  hope  and 
sustained  by  an  ideal,  he  can  consecrate  the  hoe  as 
well  as  any  other  instrument  of  service,  as  a  means 
of  fulfilling  the  promise  within  him,  When  a  seed  is 
sown  in  the  ground  it  first  sends  its  roots  into  the 
soil  before  the  blades  can  rise  out  of  it.  But  is  it 
not  actuated  by  the  plant-consciousness  to  seek  the 
light  of  heaven?  For  what  is  the  purpose  of  send- 
ing its  roots  below,  if  it  be  not  in  order  to  bear  fruit 
above?  The  pilgrim  fathers  in  following  the  inspi- 
ration of  a  lofty  ideal  developed  the  resources  of  a 
continent.  Any  people  who  attempt  to  reach  the 
sky  on  a  pedestal  of  bricks  and  mortar  will  end  in 
confusion  and  bewilderment  as  did  the  builders  of 
the  Tower  of  Babel  on  the  plains  of  Shinar  in  the 
days  of  Eld.  It  requires  range  of  vision  to  stimulate 
the  industrial  activities  of  the  people.  The  most 
effective  prayer  that  can  be  uttered  for  the  Negro  is, 
"  Lord,  open  Thou  his  eyes."  He  cannot  see  beyond 
the  momentary  gratification  of  appetite  and  passion. 
He  does  not  look  before  and  after.  Such  stimulat- 
ing influence  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  race 
only  through  the  inspiration  of  the  higher  culture. 

MEN    OF    HIGHER    TRAINING    THE     LEADERS    OF    INDUS- 
TRIAL    EDUCATION 

It  requires  men  of  sound  knowledge  to  conceive 
and  execute  plans  for  the  industrial  education  of 
the  masses.  The  great  apostles  of  industrial  educa- 
tion for  the  Negro  have  been  of  academic  training, 
or  of  its  cultural  equivalent.     The  work  of  Hamp- 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     271 

ton  and  Tuskegee  is  carried  on  by  men  and  women 
of  a  high  degree  of  mental  cultivation. 

DR.    BOOKER    T.    WASHINGTON    AN   EXAMPLE    OF    HIGHER 
CULTURE 

Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington  (note  the  title)  is  the 
most  influential  Negro  that  the  race  under  freedom 
has  produced.  He  is  the  great  apostle  of  industrial 
training.  His  great  success  is  but  the  legitimate 
outcome  of  his  earnestness  and  enthusiasm.  And  yet 
there  is  no  more  striking  illustration  of  the  neces- 
sity of  wise,  judicious  and  cultivated  leadership  as 
a  means  of  stimulating  the  dormant  activity  of  the 
masses  than  he  who  hails  from  Tuskegee.  vHis  suc- 
cess is  due  wholly  to  his  intellectual  and  moral  facul- 
ties. His  personal  opportunities  of  association  and 
contact  have  been  equivalent  to  a  liberal  education. 
Several  of  America's  greatest  institutions  of  learning 
have  fittingly  recognized  his  moral  and  intellectual 
worth  by  decorating  him  with  their  highest  literary 
honors.  Mr.  Washington  possesses  an  enlightened 
mind  to  discover  the  needs  of  the  masses,  executive 
tact  to  put  his  plans  in  effective  operation,  and  per- 
suasive ability  to  convince  others  as  to  the  expedi- 
ency of  his  policies.  \sHe  possesses  no  trade  or  handi- 
craft ;  if  so,  he  has  never  let  the  American  people 
into  the  secret.  Nor  can  it  easily  be  seen  what  pos-  J  X 
sible  benefit  such  trade  or  handicraft  would  be  to  J 
him  in  the  work  which  has  fallen  to  his  lot.  Tus- 
kegee has  been  built  on  intellect  and  oratory.  If  Mr.' 
Washington  had  been  born  with  palsied  hands,  but 
endowed  with  the  same  intellectual  gifts  and  powers 
of  persuasive  speech,  Tuskegee  would  not  have  suf- 
fered one  iota  by  reason  of  his  manual  affliction. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  had  he  come  into  the  world 
with  a  sluggish  brain  and  a  heavy  tongue,  whatever 


272  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

cunning  and  skill  his  hands  might  have  acquired,  hq 
never  could  have  developed  the  institution  which  has 
made  him  justly  famous  throughout  the  civilized 
world. 

THE     DEFICIENCY     OF     THE     SLAVE     MECHANIC 

Slavery  taught  the  Negro  to  work,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  despise  those  who  worked.  To  them  all 
show  of  respectability  was  attached  to  those  whom 
circumstances  placed  above  the  necessity  of  toil.  It 
requires  intellectual  conception  of  the  object  and 
the  end  of  labor  to  overcome  this  mischievous  notion. 
The  Negro  mechanics  produced  under  the  old  slave 
regime  are  rapidly  passing  away  because  they  did 
not  possess  the  power  of  self-perpetuation.  They 
were  not  rooted  and  grounded  in  rational  principles 
of  the  mechanical  arts.  The  hand  could  not  trans- 
mit, its  cunning  because  the  mind  was  not  trained. 
They  were  given  the  knack  without  the  knowledge. 

MONEY    SPENT    FOR    THE    HIGHER    EDUCATION    OF    THE 
NEGRO     NOT    WASTED 

The  charge  has  recently  been  made  that  money 
spent  on  the  higher  education  of  the  Negro  has  been 
wasted.  Does  this  charge  come  from  the  South? 
When  we  consider  that  it  was  through  Northern 
philanthropy  that  a  third  of  its  population  received 
their  first  impulse  toward  better  things ;  that  these 
higher  institutions  prepared  the  30,000  Negro  teach- 
ers whose  services  are  utilized  in  the  public  schools ; 
that  the  men  and  women  who  were  the  beneficiaries 
of  this  philanthropy  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to 
control,  guide  and  restrain  the  South's  ignorant  and 
vicious  masses,  thus  lightening  the  public  burden  and 
lifting  the  general  life  to  a  higher  level;  that  these 
persons  are  almost  without  exception  earnest  advo- 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     273 

cates  of  peace,  harmony  and  good-will  between  the 
races ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  these  vast 
philanthropic  contributions  have  passed  through  the 
trade  channels  of  Southern  merchants,  it  would  seem 
that  the  charge  is  strangely  incompatible  with  that 
high-minded  disposition  and  chivalrous  spirit  which 
the  South  is  so  zealous  to  maintain.  Does  this  charge 
come  from  the  North?  It  might  not  be  impertinent 
to  propound  a  few  propositions  for  their  considera- 
tion. Is  it  possible  to  specify. a  like  sum  of  money 
spent  upon  any  other  backward  race  that,  has  pro- 
duced greater  results  than  the  amount  spent  upon 
the  Southern  Negro?  Is  it  the  American  Indian, 
upon  whom  four  centuries  of  missionary  effort  has 
produced  no  more  progress  than  is  made  by  a  painted 
ship  upon  a  painted  sea?  Is  it  the  Hawaiian,  who  will 
soon  be  civilized  off  the  face  of  the  earth?  Is  it  the 
Chinese,  upon  whom  the  chief  effect  of  Christian 
philanthropy  is  to  incite  them  to  breathe  out  slaugh- 
ter against  the  stranger  within  their  gates?  It  is 
incumbent  upon  him  who  claims  that  this  money  has 
been  wasted  to  point  out  where,  in  all  the  range  of 
benevolent  activity,  the  contributions  of  philanthropy 
have  been  more  profitably  spent. 

It  is  true  that  forty  or  fifty  millions  of  dollars 
have  been  thus  spent,  but  when  we  consider  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  task  to  which  it  was  applied,  we  find 
that  it  would  not  average  one  dollar  a  year  for  each 
Negro  child  to  be  educated.  Why  should  we  marvel, 
then,  that  the  entire  mass  of  ignorance  and  corrup- 
tion has  not  put  on  enlightenment  and  purity? 

NOT     MERE      THE'ORIZERS 

We  often  hear  that  the  advocates  of  higher  educa- 
tion are  mere  theorists  without  definite,  tangible 
plans  and  propositions.     There  has  recently  sprung 


274  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

into  prominence  a  class  of  educational  philosophers 
who  deny  the  value  of  stored-up  knowledge.  We  are 
informed  that  only  such  information  as  will  be  hon- 
ored at  the  corner  grocery  or  is  convertible  on  de- 
mand into  cash  equivalent  is  of  practical  value,  while 
all  else  is  an  educational  delusion  and  a  snare.  The 
truth  is,  that  all  knowledge  which  clarifies  the  vision, 
refines  the  feelings,  broadens  the  conception  of  truth 
and  duty  and  ennobles  the  manhood  is  of  the  highest 
and  most  valuable  form  of  practicability.  An  in- 
stitution which  sends  into  the  world  a  physician 
to  heal  the  sick,  a  lawyer  to  plead  the  cause  of  the 
injured,  a  teacher  to  enlighten  the  minds  of  the 
ignorant,  or  a  preacher  to  break  the  bread  of  life  to 
hungry  souls,  is  rendering  just  as  practical  service 
to  the  race  as  those  schools  which  prepare  men  to 
build  houses  and  plant  potatoes.  "7 

NEED  FOR  THE  NEGRO  COLLEGE 

It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  the  few  capable  Ne- 
groes can  find  opportunity  for  higher  training  in 
the  institutions  of  the  North.  It  is  by  no  means  cer- 
tain as  to  what  extent  these  institutions  would  admit 
colored  students.  The  Northern  college  is  not  apt  to 
inspire  the  colored  pupil  with  the  enthusiasm  and 
fixed  purpose  for  the  work  which  Providence  has  as- 
signed him.  It  is  the  spirit,  not  the  letter  that 
maketh  alive.  The  white  college  does  not  contem- 
plate the  special  needs  of  the  Negro  race.  American 
ideals  could  not  be  fostered  in  the  white  youth  of 
our  land  by  sending  them  to  Oxford  or  Berlin  for 
tuition.  No  more  can  the  Negro  gain  racial  inspira- 
tion from  Harvard  or  Yale.  And  yet  they  need  the 
benefit  of  contact  and  comparison,  and  the  zeal  for 
knowledge  and  truth  which  these  great  institutions 
impart.     The  Negro  college  and  the  Northern  insti- 


BRIEF    FOR    HIGHER    EDUCATION     275 

tution  will  serve  to  preserve  a  balance  between  un- 
due elation  for  want  of  sober  comparison,  and  barren 
culture,  for  lack  of  inspirational  contact  with  the 
masses. 

DOES    THE    HIGHER   EDUCATION    I*EAD    AWAY   FROM    THE 
RACE  ? 

It  is  often  charged  that  the  higher  education  lifts 
the  Negro  above  the  needs  of  his  race.  The  thou- 
sands of  graduates  of  Negro  schools  and  colleges  all 
over  the  land  are  a  living  refutation  of  this  charge. 
After  the  mind  has  been  stored  with  knowledge  it 
is  transmitted  to  the  place  where  the  need  is  greatest 
and  the  call  is  loudest,  and  transmuted  into  whatever 
mode  of  energy  may  be  necessary  to  accomplish  the 
imposed  task. 

The  issues  involved  in  the  race  question  are  as  in- 
tricate in  their  relations  and  far-reaching  in  their 
consequences  as  any  that  have  ever  taxed  human 
wisdom  for  solution.  No  one  can  be  too  learned  or 
too  profound  in  whose  hands  are  entrusted  the  tem- 
poral and  eternal  destiny  of  a  human  soul.  Even  if 
the  educated  Negro  desired  to  flee  from  his  race,  he 
soon  learns  by  bitter  experience  that  he  will  be 
thrown  back  upon  himself  by  the  expulsive  power  of 
prejudice.  He  soon  learns  that  the  Newtonian  for- 
mula has  a  social  application :  "  The  force  of  at- 
traction varies  directly  as  the  mass." 


ROOSEVELT   AND   THE   NEGRO 

The  late  Senator  Ingalls,  in  one  of  his  luminous 
flashes,  defined  politics  as  "  the  metaphysics  of 
force."  This  definition  fits  with  philosophic  fineness 
the  nature  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  who  is  its  most 
strenuous  exemplar.  In  effective  political  dynamics 
and  intensity  of  accelerative  energy,  he  easily  sur- 
passes all  the  present-day  rulers  of  the  earth.  He 
has  no  reserved  physical  or  psychical  potencies.  All 
the  energies  of  his  nature  are  in  the  active  voice  and 
present  tense.  With  him  pure  reasoning  is  a  bur- 
den, and  disquisitional  niceties  a  waste  of  while  and 
a  weariness  of  flesh.  His  one  superlative  passion  is 
how  to  bring  things  to  pass.  His  mind  works  with 
the  celerity  of  feminine  intuition.  He  reaches  con- 
clusions and  settles  issues  with  a  swiftness  and  self- 
satisfying  certainty  that  startle  the  more  cautious 
statesmen  who  rely  upon  the  slower  processes  of 
reason  and  deliberation.  He  has  diagnosed  the  case, 
prescribed  the  remedy,  and  cured,  or  killed,  the 
patient  before  the  ordinary  physician  has  finished 
feeling  the  pulse.  After  the  deed  is  done,  he  leaves 
to  the  college  professor  or  the  senile  moralist  dis- 
cussion of  the  moral  quality  of  the  method  employed. 
If  he  has  not  a  Jesuitical  disregard  of  means,  he  at 
least  considers  them  as  but  subsidiary  processes, 
which  must  not  too  seriously  embarrass  the  righteous 
end  in  view.  He  is  the  greatest  living  preacher  of 
righteousness ;  but  it  is  always  righteousness  as  it 
is  in  Roosevelt.  He  holds  to  his  conception  of  public 
duty  with  the  tenacity  of  infallible  assurance.  If 
others  are  too  stubborn  to  accept  or  too  dull  to  ap- 

276 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      277 

preciate  his  more  enlightened  point,  of  view,  the  worse 
is  the  perversity,  or  the  more  the  pity.  He  never 
reaches  either  intellectual  or  moral  sublimity,  but  is 
transcendent  only  in  action.  His  deeds  are  never 
dull.  Even  in  dealing  with  the  commonplaces  of  life 
he  infuses  into  them  the  energizing  spirit  of  his  own 
nature.  He  dramatizes  the  Ten  Commandments  and 
vitalizes  time-worn  moral  maxims  with  a  spirit  and 
power  as  if  they  were  fresh  pronouncements  to  arouse 
the  energies  of  a  lethargic  world.  A  man  almost 
or  wholly  without  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  he  is  the  ideal 
embodiment  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  spirit  which  glori- 
fies beyond  all  things  else  the  power  of  doing  things. 

"  The  Celt  is  in  his  heart  and  hand, 
The  Gaul  is  in  his  brain  and  nerve." 

He  is  absolutely  self-centered,  and  believes  that  he 
was  sent  into  the  world  to  set  things  right.  The 
world  has  accepted  him  at  his  own  appraisement,  as 
it  is  prone  to  do  with  all  ardent  natures,  especially 
if  they  be  serious  and  incessant  in  the  advocacy  of 
their  high  pretensions.  He  accomplishes  his  sov- 
ereign purposes  while  his  fellow-citizens  stand  amaz- 
edly  at  gaze,  as  an  astronomer  when  a  new  luminary 
flashes  suddenly  upon  his  vision  and  pursues  its  un- 
computed  orbit  across  the  skies. 

HIS     EARLY     CAREER 

He  begins  his  public  career  by  defying  James  G. 
Blaine,  the  magnetic  statesman,  who,  like  Agamem- 
non, was  a  born  king  of  men.  He  leads  a  little  hand- 
ful of  rough  and  ready  dare-devils  up  a  little  hill  in 
a  little  skirmish,  and  is  covered  with  the  military 
glamour  and  glory  of  a  great  hero  in  a  great  con- 
flict. Our  party  captains,  fearing  the  exorbitancy 
of  his  foreshadowed  power,  force  him  into  the  Vice- 


278  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Presidential  office  as  a  sure  political  quietus,  but  it 
proved  to  be  merely  an  instance  of  the  folly  of  men 
trying  to  defeat  a  career  marked  out  by  destiny.  The 
assassin's  bullet  takes  off  McKinley,  the  beloved,  and 
installs  Roosevelt,  the  strenuous.  His  high  place  but 
affords  a  vantage  ground  for  the  exercise  of  his 
strenuousness  and  power.  By  the  word  of  his  might, 
he  commands  two  powerful  nations  engaged  in  Ti- 
tanic struggle  to  stay  their  strife  and  sue  for  peace, 
and  forthwith  they  obey  him.  He  commands  peace 
or  war,  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  high  con- 
ception of  righteousness.  With  one  bold  Roosevel- 
tian  stroke  he  acquires  a  canal  connecting  the  mighty 
waters  which  had  washed  separate  shores  since  re- 
corded time,  a  consummation  which  American  states- 
manship had  sought  for  half  a  century  in  vain.  He 
regulates  railroads,  throttles  trusts,  defies  labor 
cliques,  and  holds  in  leash  both  the  millionaire  and 
the  mob.  He  makes  even  the  wrath  of  Tillman  to 
praise  him,  and  the  remainder  of  his  wrath  he  holds 
in  contempt.  The  universality  of  his  sway  was  never 
more  strikingly  illustrated  than  by  the  grotesque 
spectacle  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  where  the 
spectator  might  look  and  see  Roosevelt's  mighty 
hosts  advancing  against  the  stronghold  of  plu- 
tocracy, with  Tillman  leading  on !  There  is  no  ques- 
tion of  human  interest  whose  magnitude  or  minute- 
ness is  beyond  his  strenuous  handling.  He  gives  the 
American  women  salutary  advice  as  to  their  domestic 
function  and  duty;  with  an  off-hand  stroke  of  the 
pen  seeks  to  reform  English  orthography,  which  has 
been  slowly  modifying  from  Chaucer  to  Mark  Twain ; 
sets  up  as  expert  detective  of  nature  fakirs ;  while 
Americans,  of  however  high  reputation  and  stand- 
ing, who  persist  in  seeing  things  under  other  than 
his   own  angle  of  vison,  may  regard  themselves   as 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      279 

lucky  indeed  if  they  escape  being  relegated  to  his 
famous  "  Index-Prsevaricatorum." 

THE    WEAK    AND     HELPLESS 

When  one  considers  what  manner  of  man  is  this 
whom  the  strong  and  mighty  hold  in  awe,  the  man 
who  gives  the  word  and  the  nation  obeys,  he  who 
speaks  and  it  is  done,  he  might  feel  disposed  to  ask 
who  is  the  despised  Negro  that  he  should  be  mind- 
ful of  him,  or  that  he  should  bestow  upon  him  one 
moment  of  his  august  consideration  and  regard ! 
There  is  little  room  for  the  weak  and  helpless  in  a 
strenuous  philosophy  which  glorifies  the  valiant  man. 
What  hope  has  the  feeble  and  the  heavy  laden  in  a 
dispensation  whose  gospel  relegates  the  hindermost 
to  the  mercy  of  his  satanic  captor?  Roosevelt  has 
never  been  the  champion  of  manhood  rights.  But 
rather,  like  Lyman  Abbott,  he  believes  in  manhood 
first  and  rights  afterward.  He  has  little  of  the 
humanitarian  sentimentalism  that  would  stoop  to  the 
infirmities  of  the  weak.  His  motto  is  "  all  men  up  " 
who  can  get  up  and  stand  up.  But  if  some  men 
allow  themselves  to  be  pushed  down,  the  overthrowers 
rather  than  the  overthrown  command  his  higher  re- 
spect because  they  manifest  the  greater  degree  of 
power.  Had  he  been  born  at  an  earlier  season  he 
doubtless  would  have  opposed  the  reconstruction 
scheme  as  he  now  opposes  independence  for  the 
Philippine  Islands.  His  very  nature  revolts  at  the 
idea  of  clothing  weakness  with  authority. 

ROOSEVELT     NOT     BAPTIZED     WITH     THE     FIRE     OF     OUR 
CIVIL     WAR 

He  is  the  first  commanding  statesman  of  his  party 
who  was  not  baptized  with  the  spirit  of  the  Civil 
War.      The  political  and  civil  equality   of  all  men 


280  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

was  burned  into  the  soul  as  the  outcome  of  that 
great  struggle.  Orthodoxy  in  this  doctrine  was  at 
one  time  the  one  determinative  test  of  patriotism, 
the  only  passport  to  public  favor  and  power.  But 
now  we  have  a  new  Pharaoh  who  knew  not  Joseph 
the  black.  With  the  new  issue  have  come  new  issues. 
Tax  and  tariff,  trade  and  transportation,  plutocracy 
and  trusts,  expansion  and  subjugation,  now  monop- 
olize public  attention.  The  issues  of  life  to-day  are 
material  rather  than  moral,  and  are  placed  on  a 
hard,  unsentimental  metallic  basis.  The  dollar  is 
the  highest  common  divisor  of  values,  in  terms  of 
which  we  measure  all  forms  of  excellence — yea,  even 
human  rights.  Indeed,  whoever  is  so  archaic  in  this 
material  day  as  to  insist  on  the  political  doctrine  of 
a  generation  ago  is  apt  to  be  waived  aside  as  a  doc- 
trinaire enthusiast,  or  perhaps  as  a  moral  molly- 
coddle. Roosevelt  embodies  the  new  spirit  rather 
than  the  old,  which  he  espouses  with  a  moral  enthu- 
siasm and  a  preachment  of  a  type  of  righteousness 
which  well  befit  the  new  faith. 

>^      ALTERNATION  OF  GOOD  AND  ILL  WILL 

/  Roosevelt's  relations  with  the  Negro  have  been 
/  marked  by  an  almost  whimsical  alternation  of  good 
^-and  bad  impressions.  At  one  time  he  elicits  his  high- 
est praise,  only  at  the  next  turn  to  evoke  his  bitterest 
curses.  He  is  a  man  of  instantaneous  impulse  and 
promptitude  of  action,  and  is  unhampered  by  the 
tedium  of  logical  coherence  or  consistency  of  pro- 
cedure. He  follows  the  latest  impulse.  The  Negro  is 
by  no  means  the  only  alternate  beneficiary  and  victim 
of  his  impulsive  caprice.  The  Southern  whites  have 
also  experienced  like  vicissitudes.  No  President  has 
been  so  bitterly  abused  or  so  highly  extolled  by  the 
white  South  as  its  half-son  who  claims   a  national 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      281 

poise  by  reason  of  the  balance  of  his  blood.  The 
people  who  but  yesterday  were  heaping  upon  him 
maledictions  which  exhaust  the  lexicon  of  malignity, 
are  now  proclaiming  him  their  hearts'  idol  and  chief 
delight.  The  praise  and  blame  which  he  receives  at 
the  hands  of  the  white  South  and  black  race  are  at 
the  same  time  antithetical  and  complementary. 
Like  the  illumined  and  bedarkened  portions  of  the 
moon's  surface,  the  one  increases  at  the  expense  of 
the  other.  In  dealing  with  the  delicate  questions 
complicated  by  race  antagonisms  he  has  not  as  yet 
found  a  policy  that  is  satisfying  to  all — a  states- 
manlike consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished.  And 
so  whites  and  blacks  alike  have  experienced,  with 
fluctuating  humor,  the  variable  phases  of  the  ampli- 
tude of  his  impulse. 

"  But  through  the  shift  of  mood  and   mood 
Mine  ancient  humor  saves  him  whole, 
The  cynic  devil  in  his  blood 

That  makes  him  mock  his  hurrying  soul." 

AS      CIVIL     SERVICE     COMMISSIONER 

Theodore  Roosevelt  entered  upon  his  public  min- 
istry as  an  ardent  advocate  of  administrative  purity. 
He  believed  in  righteous  methods  applied  to  public 
business.  It  was  as  Civil  Service  Commissioner  that 
he  first  came  in  practical  contact  with  the  race  issue. 
He  served  as  Commissioner  under  the  second  admin- 
istration of  Grover  Cleveland,  who  himself  was  a  con- 
sistent disciple  of  administrative  reform.  It  was 
the  boast  of  many  of  the  supporters  of  the  new  ad- 
ministration that  they  would  take  the  departments 
at  Washington  out  of  mourning  by  removing  all  the 
darksome  embellishments  in  the  shape  of  colored  em- 
ployees. But  Grover  Cleveland  was  made  of  the  same 
sort  of  stern,  dogged  integrity  as  his  doughty  young 


282  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Commissioner.  Mr.  Roosevelt  strenuously  insisted 
that  all  applicants  should  be  treated  according  to 
their  degree  of  fitness  on  the  established  scale  of 
merit,  to  the  utter  disregard  of  such  extraneous 
issues  as  race,  color,  or  political  alignment.  It  was 
due  in  large  part  to  the  courageous  insistence  of  this 
intrepid  Republican  official  under  a  Democratic  ad- 
ministration, backed  up  by  the  stubborn  honesty 
of  his  chief,  that  black  applicants  for  clerical  posi- 
tions were  not  blackballed  by  a  party  which  had 
posed  as  their  traditional  political  adversary.  It 
cannot  be  claimed  that  Commissioner  Roosevelt  as- 
sumed this  attitude  out  of  any  special  regard  for 
the  brother  in  black,  or  rather  the  brother  in  colors, 
but  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  his  principles.  It  is 
a  very  imperfect  philosophy  which  breaks  down  at 
the  color  line.  That  scheme  of  political  or  moral 
ethics  which  awaits  answer  to  the  query,  "  Of  what 
complexion  is  he?  "  before  applying  its  beneficence 
cannot  be  entertained  by  a  noble  nature  or  a  broadly 
enlightened  mind.  There  is  nothing  in  Roosevelt's 
strenuous  philosophy  that  would  cause  him  to  pro- 
pound this  query  or  await  its  answer.  If  the  Negro 
can  drink  of  the  cup  of  which  the  white  man  drinks 
and  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  with  which  he  is 
baptized  withal,  he  holds  that  he  should  share  with 
him  the  glory,  honor,  and  power  of  his  kingdom.  If 
his  faith  in  the  Negro  is  small  it  is  only  because  he 
has  not  been  impressed  with  sufficiently  numerous 
examples  of  strenuosity  and  success  to  guarantee 
them    as    race    characteristics. 

AS     ROUGH     EIDER 

Roosevelt's  second  point  of  contact  with  the  Negro 
race  was  during  the  Spanish  War.  In  that  famous 
charge  up  San  Juan  Hill — or  was  it  Kettle  Hill? — ■ 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      283 

the  courage  and  intrepidity  of  the  Negro  troops 
saved  Colonel  Roosevelt  and  his  Rough  Riders  from 
utter  destruction.  Had  it  not  been  for  their  coura- 
geous intervention  he  would  have  been  cut  off  in  the 
flower  of  his  youth,  and  his  dazzling  career  lost  to 
the  American  people.  Gratitude  is  not  characteris- 
tic of  a  self-centered  nature.  When  one  is  overbur- 
dened with  a  sense  of  his  ordained  primacy,  he  natur- 
ally looks  upon  lesser  men  as  being  put  into  the  world 
as  auxiliaries  to  his  higher  mission.  While  the  whole 
world  was  extolling  the  prowess  of  the  Negro  sol- 
dier, it  was  reserved  for  the  chief  beneficiary  of  that 
prowess  to  sound  the  sole  discordant  note.  In  a 
notable  magazine  article,  where  our  present-day  war- 
riors are  wont  to  fight  their  battles  with  an  ingenuity 
and  courage  rarely  equalled  on  the  tented  field,  Colo- 
nel Roosevelt  either  discredited  their  valor  or 
damned  them  with  such  faint  praise  as  to  dim  the 
luster  of  their  fame.  This  ungenerous  criticism 
dumfounded  the  Negro  race.  Disparagement  of 
the  Negro  soldier,  as  subsequent  developments  have 
clearly  shown,  touches  the  pride  and  arouses  the  re- 
sentment of  this  race  as  nothing  else  can  do.  The 
Negro's  loyalty  and  patriotism,  as  exemplified  in  all 
the  nation's  wars,  is  perhaps  the  chief  tie  of  endear- 
ment that  binds  him  to  the  heart  of  the  American 
people.  If  that  tie  becomes  tenuous  his  hold  upon 
the  nation's  affection  would  be  precarious  indeed. 
For  a  time  there  was  no  more  unpopular  man  in 
America  throughout  Afro-Americandom.  But  elec- 
tion time  was  approaching.  Political  exigencies 
made  him  the  available  candidate  for  the  governor- 
ship of  the  Empire  State  of  New  York.  The  chief 
factor  in  this  availability  was  the  military  glamour 
that  gathered  about  him  because  of  San  Juan  Hill, 
where  the  colored  troops  fought  so  nobly.     The  re- 


284  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

suits  at  this  election  depended  upon  the  colored  vote, 
whose  resentment  he  had  aroused.  Candidate  Roose- 
velt so  mollified  and  qualified  the  strictures  of  Colo- 
nel Roosevelt  as  to  take  away  much  of  the  keenness 
of  the  sting.  By  the  use  of  such  blandishments  as 
the  politician  knows  well  how  to  apply  to  salve  the 
sores  of  an  aggrieved  class  during  the  unrest  of  a 
heated  campaign,  the  injury  was  forgiven,  or  at 
least  held  in  abeyance.  Under  the  rallying  cry  of 
the  Grand  Old  Party  the  Negro  vote  came  to  the 
rescue  and  supported  him  almost  to  a  man.  The 
slender  margin  of  his  victory  showed  that  his  success 
was  due  to  that  support.  Had  the  Negro  persisted 
in  a  spiteful  spirit  and  sought  vengeance  at  the  polls 
his  political  career  doubtless  would  have  been  cut 
short  and  the  pent-up  energies  of  his  nature  must 
have  sought  outlet  through  a  different  channel. 
It  was  thus  that  the  Negro  saved  his  political  life  at 
the  ballot-box  as  he  had  saved  his  physical  life  on 
the  battlefield. 

AS    GOVERNOR    OF    NEW    YORK 

During  his  brief  service  as  Governor  he  appointed 
one  or  two  colored  men  to  unimportant  positions  and 
entertained  a  colored  artist  at  the  gubernatorial 
mansion.  He  accepted  an  invitation  to  deliver  the 
dedicatory  address  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Frederick 
Douglass  monument  at  Rochester.  Perusal  of  this 
address  enables  one  to  sympathize  with  an  official  who 
feels  forced  to  perform  a  ceremony  in  which  he  has 
little  spirit  or  zest,  in  order  to  accommodate  a  con- 
stituency whom  it  is  desirable  to  keep  in  good  humor. 
On  the  whole  his  administration  as  Governor  pre- 
served the  general  attitude  of  his  party  toward  its 
black  allies  without  any  notable  departure  either  to 
their  benefit  or  disadvantage. 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      285 

As  candidate  for  Vice-President  and  for  President 
he  not  only  secured  the  black  man's  loyal  support, 
but  commanded  his  enthusiastic,  yea,  rapturous  ap- 
plause. 

THE    APPOINTMENT    OF    CRUM 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  McKinley's  administra- 
tion there  were  mutterings  of  disquiet  and  unrest 
among  the  Afro-American  contingent.  After  the 
unfortunate  outcome  of  the  Lake  City  horror,  it  was 
reported  that  the  President  had  abandoned  the  policy 
of  appointing  colored  men  to  Federal  offices  in  the 
South.  It  was  also  whispered  that  he  was  giving 
aid  and  encouragement  to  the  propaganda  of  the 
Lily  Whites,  a  breed  of  political  exotics  which  neither 
toils  nor  spins,  but  delights  to  array  itself  in  all  the 
spoils  and  splendor  of  office.  An  open  revolt  was 
narrowly  averted  during  the  campaign  of  1900. 
When  Theodore  Roosevelt  became  President  the  Ne- 
gro's hopes  revived.  Here  was  a  man  of  gigantic 
character  whose  courageous  righteousness  on  all  na- 
tional questions  admitted  of  no  variableness  nor 
shadow  of  turning.  The  test  was  not  long  in  com- 
ing, and  Roosevelt  stood  it  unfalteringly.  Dr.  Wil- 
liam D.  Crum,  a  most  highly  capable  and  respected 
citizen  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  became  his 
party's  choice  for  collector  of  that  ancient  and  hon- 
orable port.  His  name  was  sent  to  the  Senate  for 
confirmation.  The  whole  white  South  became  en- 
raged and  lashed  itself  into  fury.  Was  this  a  re- 
opening of  the  issue  at  Charleston  supposed  to  have 
been  settled  at  Lake  City?  Political  agitation,  es- 
pecially when  tinged  with  race  antagonism,  never 
obeys  the  formula  of  logic.  It  booted  nothing  to 
point  out  that  colored  men  had  held  throughout  the 
South  the  highest  Federal  places  since  the  days  of 


286  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Grant.  It,  was  also  shown  that  both  at  Savannah 
and  Wilmington,  more  important  ports  environing 
Charleston  on  the  south  and  on  the  north,  colored 
men  sat  at  the  receipt  of  customs. 

All  sorts  of  direful  predictions  filled  the  air.  The 
ear  of  the  nation  tingled  with  the  choice  of  blood- 
shed, race  war,  Negro  domination,  Anglo-Saxon  su- 
periority, and  like  rhetorical  fustian  which  such  an 
occasion  is  calculated  to  evoke.  But  Roosevelt  stood 
by  his  guns  as  he  always  does  while  the  firing  con- 
tinues. The  sleepy  old  city  by  the  sea  had  not  had 
so  much  national  attention  focused  upon  it  since  the 
firing  upon  Fort  Sumter.  The  Republican  leaders 
became  frightened.  Some  were  disposed  to  balk, 
others  to  dodge.  It  was  Roosevelt  who  applied  the 
whip  and  inspired  his  party  to  stand  by  its  great 
traditions.  In  the  midst  of  this  raging  controversy 
he  took  occasion  to  announce  to  the  world  that  he 
would  not  shut  the  door  of  hope  upon  any  class  of 
American  citizens.  The  principle  was  established. 
Crum  was  confirmed.  The  door  of  hope  still  stands 
ajar;  albeit  few  there  be  who  enter  thereat.  The 
swarthy  collector  sat  calmly  at  his  window  over- 
looking Fort  Sumter,  straining  his  eyes  for  sight  of 
an  occasional  ship  in  quest  of  unlading  or  clearance 
at  his  port.  The  citizens  were  again  tracing  their 
favorite  phantoms.  The  good  old  city  had  sunken 
into  its  traditional  ways,  reveling  in  the  glory  of  by- 
gone days,  dreaming  of  things  of  yore  in  the  shadow 
of  Calhoun's  Monument,  and  basking  in  the  soft,  sil- 
very moonlight  over  the  Battery.  No  more  heed 
was  taken  of  the  racial  personality  of  the  dignified 
and  leisurely  collector  than  of  the  cut  of  his  coat  or 
the  color  of  his   necktie. 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      287 


THE  INDIANOLA  POST   OFFICE 

At  Indianola  where  an  irascible  community  defied 
the  national  authority  because  of  the  unfashionable 
color  of  a  Federal  officer,  the  President  upheld  the 
national  dignity  and  prestige  with  a  firm  and  un- 
flinching hand. 

THE      BOOKER      WASHINGTON      DINNER 

A  simple  act  of  civility  on  the  part  of  the  Presi- 
dent toward  an  eminent  colored  American  called 
down  upon  his  head  the  fires  of  wrath  of  his  white 
brethren  in  the  South.  Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington, 
the  consulting  statesman  for  the  Negro  race,  was 
invited  to  dinner  at  the  White  House.  There  is,  per- 
haps, no  other  person  in  America  of  like  standing 
and  relation  to  public  questions  who  has  not  re- 
ceived such  semi-official  courtesy.  But  immediately 
a  mighty  storm  arose.  Had  the  President  suddenly 
turned  traitor  and  flagrantly  violated  our  most 
sacred  religious  or  moral  code  he  could  not  have  been 
more  bitterly  or  blatantly  denounced.  That  two 
gentleman  of  world-wide  reputation  and  of  congenial 
temperament  should  occasionally  sit  together  at  meat 
might  naturally  be  expected  anywhere  outside  of  the 
Brahmin  caste.  Mr.  Washington  is  our  only  do- 
mestic ambassador. 

He  has  been  picked  out  and  set  up  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  an  overshadowed  nation  surrounded  by 
an  overshadowing  one.  An  ambassador  usually  has 
immediate  access  to  the  presence  of  the  chief  ruler  to 
whom  he  is  accredited  without  the  intermeddling  of 
official  understrappers.  Nice  courtesies  and  high 
civilities  usually  accompany  diplomatic  procedure. 
Should  the  representative  from  Corea  or  Hayti  or 
Turkey  be  invited  to  dine  alone  with  the  President 


288  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

at  the  White  House  the  act  would  hardly  be  con- 
strued into  one  of  social  intimacy,  but  it  would  be 
regarded  merely  as  a  convenient  opportunity  to  con- 
sult over  some  weighty  matters  of  state.  Indeed, 
only  a  few  days  after  the  famous  Washington  dinner 
a  red  Indian  chief  who  had  not  passed  beyond  the 
blanket  and  feather  stage  of  civilization  was  received 
by  the  President  and  the  incident  only  excited  curi- 
ous pleasantry.  Mr.  Washington  has  mingled  in 
close  pleasant  personal  touch  with  princes  and  po- 
tentates of  the  Old  World  and  with  merchant  princes 
and  money  barons  of  the  New.  He  is  entirely  fa- 
miliar with  high  social  favors.  The  colored  race  has 
not  the  slightest  concern  with  whom  Mr.  Washing- 
ton, in  his  personal  capacity,  may  or  may  not  be 
invited  to  dine.  A  man's  dinner  list  is  his  private 
affair.  It  is  the  prerogative  of  every  citizen  to 
extend,  accept,  or  decline  such  invitation,  according 
to  the  dictates  of  his  own  taste  and  pleasure.  But 
to  affirm  as  a  principle  that  the  man  who  is  looked 
upon  as  the  chiefest  among  ten  millions,  in  his  am- 
bassadorial capacity,  is  not  eligible  to  the  established 
modes  of  courtesy,  at  the  high  court  of  the  nation, 
cannot  be  accepted  with  satisfaction  by  any  manly 
man  of  the  blood  thus  held  in  despite. 

These  acts  on  the  part  of  the  President  evoked 
the  highest  plaudits  from  the  colored  race.  It  was 
felt  that  his  views  were  broad,  based  upon  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  our  institutions  which  accord 
to  all  classes  of  citizens  the  same  official  considera- 
tion and  courtesy.  Indeed,  these  laudations  became 
so  loud  and  fulsome  that  they  must  have  proved  em- 
barrassing to  one  who  did  not  pose  as  the  special 
champion  of  an  unpopular  class. 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      289 


POLICIES      NOT      SUSTAINED 

But  it  must  be  said  that  these  evidences  of  friend- 
ship and  good  will  have  not  been  systematic  and  sus- 
tained, nor  followed  up  to  their  logical  conclusion. 
Roosevelt  never  surrenders,  but  often  seems  to  evac- 
uate his  stronghold  as  soon  as  he  has  demonstrated 
the  enemy's  inability  to  capture  it.  In  the  final  esti- 
mate of  history,  if  his  reputation  falls  short  of  super- 
lative greatness,  it  will  be  because  he  lacks  consecu- 
tiveness  and  persistence  of  purpose  and  policy.  He 
is  not  permanently  wedded  to  any  one  question  as 
the  dominant  note  of  his  career.  He  suddenly  takes 
up  a  measure,  settles  it  and  drops  it,  and  goes  in 
quest  of  issues  new.  And  so  in  dealing  with  the 
Negro.  He  has  established  the  principle,  but  has 
desisted  at  the  point  of  practical  operation.  Crum 
was  made  collector  of  Charleston  in  face  of  a  frown- 
ing South,  but  he  makes  no  more  such  appointments 
against  local  opposition.  He  closed  the  post  office 
at  Indianola,  but  it  was  shortly  reopened  in  sub- 
stantial harmony  with  the  contentions  of  its  white 
patrons.  He  preserved  a  dignified  and  becoming  si- 
lence while  the  storm  of  wrath  raged  over  the  Booker 
Washington  dinner,  but  no  more  do  he  and  the  fa- 
mous Tuskegeean  break  pleasant  bread  and  shake 
the  friendly  glass  while  conferring  over  weighty  mat- 
ters of  the  nether  state. 

SOUTHERN      REFEREES 

The  tentative  policies  which  President  Roosevelt 
has  pursued  concerning  the  political  welfare  of  the 
race  have  not  been  calculated  to  command  their  cor- 
dial co-operation  and  cheerful  acquiescence.  These 
may  be  considered  under  three  distinct  heads. 


290  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

1.  His  scheme  of  selecting  referees  with  whom  to 
consult  on  political  dealings  in  the  South  is  some- 
thing new  under  the  political  sun.  While  he  has 
sought  diligently  to  find  men  of  the  highest  standing 
and  character  to  serve  in  this  consultive  capacity,  yet 
his  selections  have  usually  been  of  the  Democratic 
persuasion,  and  sometimes  of  strong  anti-Negro  bias. 
According  to  the  universal  method  of  American  pol- 
itics, the  administration  is  controlled  in  its  local  mat- 
ters by  the  leaders  of  the  organization  of  the  same 
party  faith.  When  an  administration  discards  its 
own  party  supporters  and  seeks  advice  from  its  po- 
litical adversaries  it  may  not  expect  the  approval 
of  the  regular  workers  who  have  borne  the  brunt  and 
burden  of  battle.  This  feeling  is  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  Negro  race,  but  is  shared  in  or  perhaps 
it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  is  directed  by  the 
white  manipulators  of  the  shattered  Republican 
fragments  in  the  South. 

BOOKER     WASHINGTON     AS     SPOKESMAN 

2.  Dr.    Booker   T.    Washington   has   been    chosen 
as  referee  at  large  and  as  the  sole  spokesman  for  the 
entire  Negro  race.     His  selection  was  not  due  to  his 
political  activity  or  experience,  for  the  whole  tenor 
of  his  teaching  has  been  to  persuade  his  race  to  place 
less  proportional  stress   on   politics   and  to   concen- 
trate its  energies  upon  things  economic  and  material.  \ 
But  by  reason   of  his   general  prominence   and  the  j 
world-wide  esteem  he  was  put  in  command  of  polit- / 
ical  forces,  to  the  relegation  of  war-scarred  veterans' 
who   had   borne   the   heat    and   burden    of   the   day. 
Othello  naturally  objects  to  his  loss  of  occupation. 
Most    of   them   have   yielded,   but   only    after   they 
learned  that  the  only  road  to  official  favor  was  the 
straight  and  narrow  path  that  leads  to  Tuskegee. 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      291 

No  Negro,  whether  in  Vermont  or  Texas,  whatever 
has  been  his  service  to  the  party,  can  expect  to  re- 
ceive consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  President  un- 
less he  gets  the  approval  of  the  great  educator.  —-It 
fih-inili^  in  nil  C'linih-'iS;  he  said  that  thin  p n  "HrTTTwnT"" 
n<rb  of  Mr.  Washington'o  own  seeking:  Trtas  on 
more  than  one  occasion  caused  him  serious  embar- 
rassment. It  might  seem  that  active  participation  in 
politics  would  impair  his  usefulness  along  other  lines 
to  which  he  has  devoted  the  chief  energies  of  his  life. 
It  is  needless  to  say,  as  some  are  wont  to  aver,  that 
Mr.  Washington's  function  as  adviser  to  the  Presi- 
dent does  not  make  him  a  practical  political  par- 
ticipant. The  procurement  of  office  and  the 
manipulations  incident  thereto  are  the  chief  concern 
of  the  typical  politician.  Mr.  Washington  was  im- 
pressed into  this  service  on  the  demand  of  the  Presi- 
dent, which  no  patriotic  citizen  feels  inclined  to 
refuse.  Indeed,  there  is  no  prominent  Negro  who 
would  not  have  accepted  the  assignment  upon  the 
slightest  intimation  that  he  might  be  the  Presidential 
choice.  That  Mr.  Washington  has  filled  the  assign^ 
ment  with  an  eye  single  to  the  best  interest  of  hisl 
r^bce  is  wholly  aside  from  the  merits  of  the  question. 
1U»  Tlnfirmyplf  wn^-  TPAi-lilv  fl.ss.pnt  tn  th<*-f»¥Oposi- 
trw^JJaaj^the  prJi'+j^l  V»r>gg  fa  an  undesirable  person. 
_And  yetlieTTaVSeV up  Mr-  Washington    as  t}rp  hoss^ 

nf    +PT1    milli^TiB^7' 1    iwnnnrlnrl    U I     III    nlii'j    him 

on  penaltyof  political  disfavor.     He  has  put  at  his 
disposal  tnemeans  by  which  all  bosses  retain  their 
influence — the   persuasive   power    of   public   patron- 
age.     For  where  the   patronage  is,  there   the   sub\ 
serviency  of  the  politician  will  be  also.     This  policy  \ 
is  not  calculated  to  teach  the  Negro  the  needed  les-   j 
son  in  self-government  and  manly  political  activity 
Should    succeeding    administrations     follow     Mi'T 


W 


* 


292  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

Roosevelt's  example  in  this  regard,  the  Negro  would 
remain  in  perpetual  thraldom  to  an  intermediary 
boss  set  up  at  the  whim  or  caprice  of  whoever  hap- 
v  pens  to  be  President.  Wg^eannot  hope  that  ereiy 
a^ministration^wjll  be  ns  fnrtnnatp  jn  jfs  ^W+^r,  ffg 
*Mr.  RoosevpH  has  h^™  Contemplation  of  the  con- 
tinuance of  such  conditions  is  repugnant  to  every 
principle  of  manly  American  politics. 

FEDERAL,    OFFICES    FOR    NORTHERN    NEGROES 

3.  Strangely  enough,  one  of  the  most  significant 
moves  of  the  President  affecting  the  political  life  of 
the  Negro  has  almost  or  wholly  escaped  attention. 
He  has  shifted  the  center  of  gravity  from  the  South 
to  the  North.  Hitherto  the  important  Federal  places 
accorded  the  race  have  gone  to  persons  below  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  line.  This  recognized  the  race  as 
a  factor  in  local  Republican  organizations  and  gave 
some  prestige  at  national  conventions.  It  also  rec- 
ognized the  potential  political  rights  of  the  Negro 
which  neither  suppression  nor  temporary  nullifica- 
tion can  take  away.  To  withold  recognition  be- 
cause suppression  has  rendered  non-effective  the  ex- 
ercise of  political  power  seems  to  be  equivalent  to  an 
abandonment  of  the  principles  for  which  the  Repub- 
lican party  has  stood  from  the  days  of  Grant  until 
now.  The  Minister  to  Hayti,  the  Register  of  the 
Treasury,  the  Fourth  Auditor  of  the  Treasury,  the 
most  conspicuous  positions  given  to  the  race,  are 
filled  by  Negroes  from  the  North.  Such  appoint- 
ments have  not  been  made  solely  on  the  basis  of  the 
local  weight  and  influence,  but  as  recognition  and 
satisfaction  of  the  claims  of  the  entire  race.  But  one 
commanding  national  position  is  now  held  by  a 
Southern  Negro,  and  that  is  the  recordership  of  deeds 
for  the  District   of  Columbia,  a  purely  local  office 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      293 

which  has  widespread  fame  as  being  the  conceded  al- 
lotment to  the  Negro,  whether  Democrats  or  Repub- 
licans are  triumphant.  The  favorites  of  political 
fortune  have  come  from  the  North  and  from  the 
South,  from  the  East  and  from  the  West,  and  en- 
sconced themselves  in  this  snug  office,  while  the  vote- 
less sons  of  the  District  have  been  ignored.  Dame 
Rumor  has  it,  or  had  it,  that  among  the  first  acts  of 
the  Roosevelt  administration  was  the  shifting  of  the 
colored  collector  of  the  port  of  Wilmington,  N.  C, 
to  the  District  of  Columbia  to  relieve  embarrassment 
to  the  Lily  White  propaganda,  which  he  at  that 
time  is  said  to  have  encouraged.  Judge  Peter  C. 
Pritchard,  who  was  then  the  administration's  inter- 
mediary in  Southern  politics,  could  write  an  interest- 
ing inside  account  of  this  transaction.  It  would 
seem  from  present  tendency  that  there  are  to  be  no 
more  new  Negro  appointees  in  the  South,  but  merely 
a  continuance  in  office  of  those  officials  against 
whom  local  Democratic  protest  is  not  too  loud  and 
boisterous.  It  requires  little  power  of  prevision  to 
foresee  the  outcome  of  this  policy.  In  a  few  years 
there  will  not  be  a  Negro  Federal  official  south  of  the 
Mason  and  Dixon  line.  This  would  prove  to  be  a 
blow  to  the  race,  for  which  the  appointment  of 
Northern  Negroes  were  but  a  poor  compensation. 
When  the  Southern  Negro  has  been  eliminated  from 
the  political  equation  with  the  connivance  and  im- 
plied sanction  of  the  party  of  Grant  and  Sumner, 
it  will  not  be  long  before  his  Northern  brother  will 
begin  to  feel  its  baleful  effect.  With  a  rare  political 
sagacity  the  Northern  Negro  feels  that  in  order  to 
preserve  his  own  liberties  he  must  insist  upon  the 
rights  of  his  brethren  in  the  South.  Shifting  the 
stress  of  political  emphasis  from  the  region  where 
the  Negro  is,  to  the  section  where  he  is  not,  is  like 


294  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

placing  the  center  of  gravity  outside  the  basis  of 
support.  The  result  must  be  unstable  political 
equilibrium.  But  here  again  the  President  is  dis- 
playing his  characteristic  disposition  which  glori- 
fies the  effective  component  for  force,  and  takes  little 
heed  of  power,  reserved  or  suppressed,  which  fails  of 
effective  expression.  The  Negro  vote  in  the  North 
is  a  practical  present  political  dynamic.  In  the 
South  it  is  an  inert  potentiality,  whose  unfoldment, 
like  faith,  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the 
evidence  of  things  not  seen.  The  President  deals 
with  the  real  and  the  tangible  rather  than  the  re- 
mote and  the  contingent.  While  this  policy  may 
seem  to  answer  the  immediate  demands  of  political 
exigencies,  it  will  prove  disastrous  to  the  Negro 
political  outlook  and  vista. 

THE   BROWNSVILLE  AFFAIR 

The  chief  irritating  issue  between  the  President 
and  the  Negro  race  is  the  outcome  of  a  most  de- 
plorable incident.  The  Negro  soldier  has  ever  been 
an  object  of  detestation  to  the  Southern  whites.  The 
soldierly  spirit  is  incompatible  with  the  status  to 
which  the  black  man  is  assigned  in  their  political  and 
social  scheme.  Every  Southern  State  has  disbanded 
its  colored  militia.  This  feeling  was  accentuated  by 
the  Spanish  War,  where  Negro  and  Southern  white 
troops  were  placed  on  a  footing  of  soldierly  equality, 
and  where  the  black  troops  gained  the  higher  meed 
of  glory.  Occasional  friction  between  local  author- 
ities and  Negro  troops  passing  through  the  South 
to  and  from  the  front  but  added  fuel  to  the  flame. 

In  face  of  this  feeling  a  Negro  battalion  was  quar- 
tered in  an  obscure  town  on  the  remote  frontier  of 
Texas.  The  air  about  Brownsville  became  tense  with 
trouble.      Citizens    goaded   soldiers   to  the  point   of 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      295 

acute  irritation.  One  dark  night  some  shooting  was 
done  in  the  streets,  resulting  in  the  death  of  a  bar- 
keeper and  the  wounding  of  an  officer  of  the  law. 
The  alarm  was  sounded  that  the  Negro  soldiers  had 
"  shot  up  the  town."  Race  passion  was  stirred  to 
the  utmost.  Brownsville  would  have  been  drenched 
in  blood  had  it  not  been  for  the  firm  attitude  of  the 
gallant  commander  of  the  fort.  The  local  grand 
jury  could  not  find  sufficient  regular  evidence  for 
indictment  of  the  hated  troops  quartered  among 
them.  Word  was  flashed  to  the  commander-in-chief 
at  Washington,  who  forthwith  proceeds  to  deal  with 
the  matter  out  of  hand.  The  army  inspector  was 
dispatched  to  the  scene  to  investigate  and  report. 
Unfortunately  the  inspector  was  a  man  of  Southern 
birth  and  bias.  The  distress  cry  of  the  city  through 
the  undercurrent  of  communication  made  its  sub- 
conscious appeal  with  Masonic  secrecy  and  force. 
Every  thoughtful  student  knows  that  where  race 
passion  is  aroused  the  judicial  temperament  takes 
flight.  Suspicion  or  even  suggestion  of  wrongdoing 
on  the  part  of  the  Negro  if  reiterated  with  loud  out- 
cry and  demand  for  blood  is  assumed  to  be  confirma- 
tion strong  as  holy  writ.  Instantaneously  every  white 
man  aligns  himself  on  the  side  of  his  race.  Where 
racial  instinct  is  appealed  to  the  laws  of  evidence 
have  little  weight.  "  Lynch  the  brutes !  "  was  on 
the  lips  of  every  citizen,  and  the  execution  was  stayed 
only  by  the  too  fearful  aspect  of  Uncle  Sam's  bay- 
onets. In  the  midst  of  this  inflammable  state  of 
things  a  son  of  Georgia,  as  inspector-general,  re- 
paired to  Brownsville.  Instantly  he  assumed  the  feel- 
ing of  the  community.  The  investigator  acted  the 
role  of  prosecutor  with  preconceived  conviction  of 
guilt.  He  accepted  the  representation  of  the  citi- 
zens of  Brownsville  and  propounded  a  few  shrewdly 


296  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

calculated  questions  to  the  suspected  soldiers,  whose 
answers  were  designed  to  confirm  their  guilt.  No 
opportunity  was  afforded  them  to  prove  their  inno- 
cence. Assuming  the  existence  of  a  criminal  con- 
spiracy, he  demanded  of  the  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers the  names  of  their  guilty  companions.  Com- 
pliance with  this  request  would  inevitably  have  been 
self-incriminatory,  convicting  the  respondent  of  mur- 
der if  personally  involved,  or  of  guilty  knowledge  if 
a  non-participant.  Following  the  method  of  the 
mob  in  dealing  with  a  black  culprit,  he  declared  them 
guilty,  and  graciously  offered  them  the  opportunity 
to  confess.  Affirming  their  innocence,  they  refused 
to  confess ;  and  declaring  their  ignorance,  they  de- 
clined to  inform  on  their  fellows.  The  inspector  hast- 
ened to  Washington  and  reported  to  the  President 
that  some  fifteen  or  twenty  men  out  of  a  total  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  had  shot  up  the  town, 
murdered  and  maimed  its  citizens,  while  the  rest  had 
guilty  knowledge  of  the  deed,  but  were  disposed  to 
shield  their  companions  in  crime.  The  city  of 
Brownsville  had  worked  out  the  case  with  such  cir- 
cumstantial confirmation  of  detail  as  to  deceive  even 
the  commanding  major,  who  reluctantly  assented  to 
the  findings  of  the  inspector-general.  On  fuller  in- 
vestigation, however,  Colonel  Penrose  changed  this 
opinion  and  now  stoutly  affirms  his  belief  in  the  inno- 
cence of  his  men. 

When  this  report  was  presented  to  President 
Roosevelt  he  was  bound  to  accept  in  good  faith  the 
findings  of  the  inspector-general,  the  regularly  au- 
thorized agent  for  such  service,  and  especially  so 
when  concurred  in  by  the  chief  officers  of  the  com- 
mand. 

A  flood  of  righteous  indignation  welled  up  within 
him  at  this  outrage  upon  the  national  arm.  He  would 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      297 

teach  the  wrongdoers  a  lesson  which  would  never  be 
forgotten.  The  color  of  the  offenders,  he  stoutly 
avers,  neither  mitigated  nor  magnified  the  character 
of  the  offense  in  his  mind.  The  discipline  of  the 
army  must  be  upheld.  It  is  easy  to  believe  that  the 
President's  conduct  at  this  stage  was  not  based  upon 
consideration  of  color.  He  is  himself  of  a  military 
mold  of  mind.  In  military  matters,  as  elsewhere,  he 
is  a  law  unto  himself  and  has  little  reverence  for 
those  above,  around,  or  beneath  him.  He  shatters  a 
military  idol  with  as  little  hesitancy  as  he  would 
reprimand  a  common  soldier.  Did  he  not  criticise 
and  discredit  the  sagacity  of  his  own  commanding 
general  with  a  little  round  robin?  The  man  who 
spoke  disparagingly  of  the  troops  who  saved  his  life 
on  the  battlefield,  who  unceremoniously  reprimanded 
General  Miles,  the  gallant  head  of  the  army  and 
hero  of  many  battles ;  who  imputed  cowardice  to  Ad- 
miral Schley,  our  only  naval  hero  who  has  triumphed 
with  modern  guns  over  modern  armor,  might  nat- 
urally be  supposed  to  act  vigorously  in  case  of  re- 
ported wrongdoers  at  Brownsville. 

Basing  his  action  on  General  Garlington's  report, 
the  President  with  ruthless  hand,  though  righteous 
purpose,  ignored  all  forms  and  precedents  of  mili- 
tary, judicial,  or  executive  procedure,  and  proceeded 
to  mete  out  drastic  punishment.  Although  there  was 
no  pretense  at  determination  of  individual  guilt,  and 
although  not  more  than  ten  per  cent,  of  the  battalion 
could  possibly  have  participated  in  the  outrage,  the 
whole  number  were  dismissed  without  honor,  and  in 
the  hot  indignation  of  his  wrath  he  imposed  upon 
them  serious  civil  disability  by  executive  fiat.  The 
disqualifying  feature  of  his  order  was  flagrantly 
ultra  vires  and  void  by  virtue  of  its  own  nullity.  It 
was   afterwards  rescinded,  but  its   original  issuance 


298  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

stands  as  a  memorial  of  the  state  of  mind  actuating 
the  President  at  the  time. 

This  order  of  the  President  violates  every  principle 
of  our  jurisprudence.  It  assumed  that  the  men  were 
guilty  and  imposed  upon  them  the  onus  of  proving 
their  innocence ;  it  condemned  them  without  even  the 
formality  of  a  trial;  it  imposed  punishment  without 
proof  of  individual  culpableness ;  by  it  one  hundred 
and  fifty  probably  innocent  men  were  made  to  suffer 
in  order  that  fifteen  possibly  guilty  ones  might  not 
escape. 

The  President  must  have  foreseen  or  forefelt  the 
tumult  which  the  issuance  of  this  order  was  calcu- 
lated to  excite,  for  with  prudent  political  sagacity 
he  held  it  up  till  the  day  after  the  election,  in  which 
the  Negro  vote  might  prove  a  determining  factor, 
and  especially  in  the  congressional  district  where  the 
political  fate  of  his  son-in-law  was  involved.  In  the 
meantime  he  had  betaken  himself  to  the  high  seas, 
planning  to  return,  it  would  seem,  after  the  clouds 
had  rolled  by. 

But  instead  of  rolling  by  to  accommodate  the  re- 
turn of  the  President,  the  clouds  continued  to  gather 
in  density  and  ominousness.  The  whole  Negro  race 
was  dazed.  Theodore  Roosevelt  had  for  the  second 
time  struck  at  the  Negro  soldier,  the  pride  and  idol 
of  the  race.  Protest,  indignation,  cries  of  outrage 
flew  thick  and  fast  from  the  Negro  press,  pulpit,  and 
platform.  The  great  papers  of  the  country  with 
practical  unanimity  condemned  the  order  as  one  of 
unusual  and  unnecessary  severity.  Those  versed  in 
constitutional  lore  declared  that  the  President  had 
set  a  precedent  which  might  prove  dangerous  to  the 
principle  of  American  liberty.  It  was  reserved  for 
Senator  Tillman  to  describe  the  act  as  executive 
lynching,  a  description  which  characterizes  the  deed 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      299 

with  his  wonted  picturesque  aptness  of  language.  It 
possesses  the  essential  characteristics  of  mob  ven- 
geance. It  inflicts  punishment  on  demand  of  the 
rabble  rather  than  by  judicial  process.  It  furnishes 
victims  to  appease  popular  vengeance  without  nice 
regard  to  the  identity  of  the  perpetrator.  The  pun- 
ishment of  the  possibly  innocent,  effectually  destroys 
the  evidence  by  which  the  guilty  might  subsequently 
be  apprehended.  The  Secretary  of  War  with  politi- 
cal forethought  sought  to  have  the  order  suspended 
until  further  investigation,  but  to  no  avail.  What 
was  written  was  written. 


The   moving   finger    writes,    and   having   writ 
Moves  on;  nor  all  your  piety  nor  wit 

Shall  lure  it  back  again, 
Nor  all  your  tears  blot  out  a  line  of  it. 


From  a  racial  point  of  view  it  was  doubly  unfor- 
tunate that  the  President  should  have  selected  the 
weak  and  helpless  Negro,  the  increasing  object  of  the 
nation's  contumely  and  despite,  upon  whom  to  make 
this  drastic  departure  from  the  usual  procedure. 
The  disciplinary  value  of  the  example  would  doubt- 
less have  been  more  effective  had  he  applied  it  in  the 
first  instance  to  the  white  troops  guilty  of  the  of- 
fense charged  against  the  colored  troops  in  Ohio 
some  months  previous.  Coming,  too,  as  it  did,  swiftly 
upon  the  heels  of  the  Atlanta  riot,  it  added  the  color 
of  justification  to  that  awful  slaughter.  Indeed, 
John  Temple  Graves,  the  justifier  of  this  atrocious 
murder  of  innocent  men,  employs  the  same  line  of 
justificatory  argument  as  that  used  to  defend  the 
President's  position.  But  the  most  unjust  and  un- 
kindest  cut  of  all  occurs  when  the  President,  acridly 
assuming  a  defensive  attitude,  holds  the  race  up  to 


300  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

the  world,  by  executive  decree,  as  fostering  a  crimi- 
nal fellowship. 

ANNUAL     MESSAGE 

In  the  meantime  the  session  of  Congress  was  ap- 
proaching. In  his  annual  message  the  President  un- 
dertook to  discuss  the  subject  of  lynching.  In  this 
document  he  imputed  to  the  colored  race  a  lecherous 
tendency  which  is  not  justified  by  the  infrequent 
occurrence  of  clearly  proved  cases  of  assault.  He 
placed  upon  the  whole  race  the  responsibility  of  re- 
straining and  controlling  the  wild  passion  of  the 
dastardly  few.  In  his  eagerness  to  effect  the  wished- 
for  consummation  he  overlooked  the  absurdity  of 
imposing  upon  a  race  studiously  deprived  of  govern- 
mental power  and  authority,  without  the  means  of 
inflicting  punishment,  the  obligation  of  reaching,  cor- 
recting, and  coercing  the  criminally  disposed.  This 
vicarious  burden  is  imposed  upon  no  other  class  of 
citizens.  The  alleged  infirmities  of  the  Negro  race 
are  thus  set  forth  and  embalmed  in  an  official  docu- 
ment and  held  up  to  the  gaze  of  all  the  world.  How- 
ever holy  and  righteous  may  have  been  the  Presi- 
dent's intentions,  this  message  is  calculated  to  do  the 
Negro  more  harm  than  any  other  state  paper  ever 
issued  from  the  White  House.  Construed  as  it  was 
in  connection  with  the  Brownsville  order  and  the 
recent  Atlanta  barbarities,  this  message  seemed 
to  accentuate  the  Negro's  rapidly  culminating 
ills. 

With  the  opening  of  Congress  the  Brownsville 
order  assumed  the  character  of  political  discussion. 
It  threatened  to  split  in  twain  the  triumphant  Re- 
publican party.  The  President's  closest  personal 
and  political  friends  felt  forced  to  uphold  his  con- 
tentions, though  not  without  apology.     The  South- 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      301 

ern  Democrats,  with  a  single  and  grotesquely  singu- 
lar exception,  reversed  the  tenor  of  their  teachings 
and  traditions  and  upheld  the  President  in  the  un- 
warranted exercise  of  executive  power.  The  aroused 
passion  of  race  had  twisted  their  immemorial  politi- 
cal doctrine.  Then  came  Senator  Foraker,  like  a 
gallant  knight  of  old,  and  stepped  into  the  arena  as 
the  champion  of  the  helpless  and  overborne.  The 
voice  of  ten  million  Americans,  unheard  and  un- 
heeded in  the  conduct  of  the  nation's  affairs,  found 
expression  in  this  eloquent  and  fearless  Ohioan.  And 
yet  he  proclaimed  not  so  much  because  the  victims 
were  black,  but  because  the  method  employed  was 
violative  of  the  principles  of  American  jurispru- 
dence and  liberty.  He  assumed  neither  the  inno- 
cence nor  guilt  of  the  accused,  but  planted  himself 
firmly  on  the  bed-rock  principle  of  the  law,  that  a 
full  and  fair  trial  should  precede  conviction  and  pun- 
ishment. The  country  and  the  Senate  sided  with 
Mr.  Foraker,  although  by  the  nice  amenities  of  legis- 
lative verbiage  they  refrained  from  wounding  the 
Presidential  pride.  An  inquiry  by  the  Senate  was 
ordered.  In  the  meantime  the  President  had  dis- 
patched a  law  officer  to  Brownsville  in  quest  of  con- 
firmatory evidence.  He  found  what  he  was  sent  for. 
By  a  prudential  intuition  these  government  agents 
seem  to  divine  the  conclusion  of  the  Presidential  mind. 
His  method  was  of  the  same  ex  parte  character  as 
that  of  the  army  inspector,  and  of  course  the  fore- 
gone conclusion  was  confirmed.  The  President  be- 
came incensed  at  the  persistent  attitude  of  the  col- 
ored race,  and  in  several  special  messages  reiterated 
his  innuendoes  with  redoubled  vim  and  emphasis. 
Senator  Foraker  became  the  principal  object  of  his 
wrath.  It  was  rumored  that  at  a  social  function, 
where  secrecy  was  imposed  upon  all  present,  a  per- 


302  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

sonal  colloquy  between  the  two  was  sharp  and  bitter. 
All  of  this  served  to  make  Senator  Foraker  the  hero 
and  idol  of  the  Negro  heart.  Foraker  gained  what 
Roosevelt  lost.  The  Ohio  Senator  is  the  only  com- 
manding statesman  of  our  day  who  has  risked  his 
public  career  on  an  issue  involving  the  Negro's  cause. 
Whatever  may  be  the  immediate  outcome  of  the 
issue,  he  has,  and  will  have,  his  reward,  for  no  one 
who  devotes  his  powers  to  the  defense  of  the  help- 
less will  fail  to  receive  the  highest  meed  of  praise 
when  the  rancor  and  hate  of  the  conflict  have  passed 
away. 

FORAKER,     THE     NEGROES'     CHAMPION 

Under  the  guidance  of  Senator  Foraker  the  Sen- 
ate inquiry  has  now  proceeded  for  several  months. 
At  the  instance  of  the  President  several  eminent  Re- 
publican Senators  reluctantly  consented  to  reinforce 
the  Democrats  in  upholding  his  hand.  The  accused 
soldiers  have  been  given  a  hearing.  Their  straight- 
forward, manly,  unwavering  testimoney  in  their  own 
behalf  has  raised  in  the  public  mind  a  reasonable 
doubt  of  their  guilt.  That  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  men,  ignorant  and  unlettered,  unskilled  in  the 
art  of  double-tongued  dialectics,  should  unite  and 
persist  in  one  straightforward  tale  and  suffer  loss  of 
livelihood  and  honor  without  one  confessing  or  in- 
forming voice  would  be  the  most  remarkable  psycho- 
logical phenomenon  in  the  history  of  criminal  pro- 
cedure. 

FAR-SIGHTEDNESS     AND     MYOPIA 

On  the  other  hand  the  citizens  of  Brownsville  have 
given  the  most  positive  and  circumstantial  evidence 
of  guilt.  These  far-sighted  witnesses  have  testified 
under  oath  that,  they  saw  these  men  in  the  act  and 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      303 

distinguished  their  uniform,  color,  and  visage  at  a 
distance  of  a  hundred  yards  on  a  dark  night,  when 
the  trained  eyesight  of  army  officers  could  not  recog- 
nize a  brother  officer  ten  feet  away.  The  weight  of 
this  testimony  is  weakened  by  the  prepossessions  of 
the  witnesses  as  well  as  by  its  inherent  incredibility. 
Aroused  race  passion  is  as  heedless  of  fact  as  it  is  of 
reason  and  logic.  It  blunts  the  physical  as  well  as 
the  moral  sense.  For  any  white  citizen  of  Browns- 
ville to  say  one  word  contradictory  of  the  popular 
prejudice  means  permanent  banishment  or  sure  and 
sudden  death.  The  wealthiest  man  of  the  town  was 
assassinated  because  he  had  the  temerity  to  ques- 
tion the  accuracy  of  certain  of  this  testimony.  Had 
these  Springfield  rifles  in  the  hands  of  men  who  have 
never  failed  to  use  them  when  ordered  by  their  com- 
manders proved  less  dissuasive  from  violence,  and 
had  half  a  dozen  Negro  soldiers  been  lynched  on  the 
broadest  street  of  Brownsville  in  broad  daylight, 
neither  the  army  inspector,  nor  the  President's  law 
officer,  nor  the  Senate  Committee  could  have  found  a 
single  citizen  who  was  able  to  see  such  happenings 
under  the  bright  sunlight  of  a  Texas  sky.  These 
same  citizens  with  far-sighted  vision  in  the  gloom  of 
night  would  have  developed  suddenly  cases  of  myopia 
that  could  not  distinguish  objects  of  their  own  han- 
dling in  open  day.  The  rule  works  both  ways.  A 
witness  who  will  not  see  that  which  he  does  not  want 
to  see  can  easily  compound  for  the  failure  by  seeing 
things  which  do  not  exist  in  obedience  to  the  demand 
of  prejudice  or  passion. 

The  Senate  Committee,  after  prolonged  and  ex- 
haustive inquiry,  brought  in  a  majority  report  up- 
holding the  President's  contention  as  to  the  guilt  of 
the  accused  soldiers,  with  a  strong  dissentient  mi- 
nority report  under  the  leadership  of  Senator  For- 


304  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

aker.  The  majority  findings  were  made  possible  by 
the  solid  vote  of  the  Southern  members  of  the  com- 
mittee, whose  attitude,  it  is  not  unjust  to  say,  had  no 
relation  to  the  judicial  merits  of  the  case  under  in- 
quiry. The  minority  party  often  assumes  the  privi- 
lege of  casting  their  vote  so  as  to  produce  the  great- 
est political  embarrassment  to  the  responsible  major- 
ity. That  the  vote  of  these  Southern  Senators  was 
prompted  by  racial  and  political  motives  and  was 
wholly  void  of  ethical  or  judicial  weight,  is  seen  from 
the  fact  that  they  voted  at  one  time  with  Foraker  to 
embarrass  the  administration  and  at  another  time, 
on  the  same  measure,  they  voted  with  the  administra- 
tion to  embarrass  Foraker. 

Before  the  report  of  the  committee  could  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Senate,  President  Roosevelt,  by  one  of 
his  surprising  strategic  strokes,  proclaimed  his  "  vin- 
dication," and  proposed,  through  the  unsearchable 
depth  of  administrative  mercy,  that  the  accused 
might  be  restored  to  the  service  if  they  could  con- 
vince him  of  their  innocence.  These  dismissed  and 
dishonored  soldiers  might  be  remanded,  not  for  trial, 
but  for  reconsideration  of  sentence,  if  they  could 
prove  their  innocence  in  the  estimation  of  the  man 
who  had  served  as  their  judge  and  executioner  and 
had  denounced  them  in  the  utmost  vehemence  of  lan- 
guage as  murderers  and  criminal  conspirators. 
Senator  Foraker  aptly  characterized  this  recom- 
mendation as  "  the  most  remarkable  proposition  ever 
submitted  to  a  civilized  legislature." 

As  the  matter  now  stands  before  the  bar  of  public 
opinion,  this  black  battalion  is  at  least  entitled  to  a 
Scotch  verdict — "  not  proven."  There  is  all  but  a 
universal  concurrence  in  this  verdict  except  among 
those  whose  racial  sentiment  renders  them  incapable 
of  considering  the  case  with  judicial  calmness  and 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      305 

poise.  But  whatever  may  finally  be  proved  as  to  the 
guilt  or  innocence  of  some  or  all  of  these  men,  they 
have  not  received  a  "  square  deal  "  at  the  hands  of 
its  author,  who  borrowed  the  phrase  from  the  gaming 
table  and  consecrated  it  to  a  higher  and  worthier 
ideal. 

This  affair  has  shaken  the  prestige  of  the  Presi- 
dent as  has  no  other  occurrence  in  his  public  career. 
It  gives  him  no  end  of  keen  concern.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  he  could  wish  the  deed  undone. 
He  has  sought  to  conciliate  the  Negro  with  the  blan- 
dishment of  office,  but  to  no  avail.  With  the  double 
view  of  disconcerting  Foraker  and  reconciling  the 
colored  brother,  at  the  psychological  moment,  when 
the  Ohio  Senator  was  booked  to  make  a  strategic 
move  in  the  Brownsville  affair,  announcement  was 
made  of  the  intention  to  appoint  a  colored  citizen 
to  the  leading  Federal  office  in  the  Senator's  own 
State  and  home  city.  But  as  this  move  seemed  to 
embarrass  the  President's  own  friends,  including  his 
son-in-law,  as  much  as  it  did  the  offending  Senator, 
it  was  abandoned.  But  not  to  be  outdone,  on  the 
day  of  the  evening  that  Senator  Foraker  was  an- 
nounced to  sound  the  keynote  of  his  position  in  a 
speech  to  his  constituents,  the  Associated  Press  an- 
nounced to  the  country  that  Ralph  W.  Tyler,  a 
worthy  colored  citizen  of  Ohio,  had  been  appointed 
Auditor  of  the  Treasury  Department  at  Washington. 
But  this  conspicuous  appointment  had  not  the  slight- 
est effect  upon  racial  sentiment,  except  to  intensify 
it  against  the  President.  A  nice  young  man  got  a 
nice  fat  office  without  changing  the  attitude  of  a 
single  Negro  in  or  out  of  Ohio.  The  whole  race  is 
wounded  and  sore.  There  is  no  division  of  sentiment. 
Never  before  has  there  been  such  unanimity.  The 
balm  of  office  cannot  heal  it.     Even  the  colored  mem- 


306  RACE    ADJUSTMENT 

bers  of  the  President's  official  household  can  only  pre- 
serve a  prudent  and  salutary  silence. 

When  Senator  Foraker  found  that  he  was  unable 
to  get  through  Congress  a  simple  measure  of  justice 
to  the  dismissed  soldiers  against  the  united  opposi- 
tion of  the  South  and  the  President's  personal  sup- 
porters in  his  own  party,  by  a  skillful  parlimentary 
move,  he  had  the  whole  issue  deferred  until  after  the 
pending  presidential  election.  A  considerable  frac- 
tion of  the  Negro  voters  in  the  North  and  West 
remained  sulky  during  the  campaign  which  evoked 
little  enthusiasm  throughout  the  race. 

After  the  election  Senator  Foraker  succeeded  in 
forcing  President  Roosevelt  to  accept  a  Court  of 
Inquiry  composed  of  retired  Army  officers  to  pass 
upon  the  case  of  the  dismissed  soldiers.  This  was 
the  most  pointed  and  signal  defeat  of  Roosevelt's 
administration. 

THE      NEGRO'S      JUST      GRIEVANCE 

There  has  recently  appeared  a  cartoon  by  a  clever 
Negro  artist  representing  the  "  Black  Man's  Bur- 
den." It  is  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  not  a  crown  of 
thorns,  but  a  cross  of  skulls.  At  the  top  of  the 
vertical  upright  is  the  head  of  Roosevelt;  Hoke 
Smith  and  Tom  Watson  are  arranged  underneath ;  on 
the  left  of  the  crosspiece  are  Thomas  Dixon  and 
John  Temple  Graves ;  on  the  right,  Tillman  and  Var- 
daman.  An  athletic  Negro  with  broken  body  is 
bowed  beneath  this  awful  load.  Theodore  Roosevelt, 
America's  most  passionate  civil  patriot,  whose  every 
impulse  beats  in  sympathetic  resonance  with  the  wel- 
fare and  betterment  of  the  nation,  who  had  stood 
firmly  by  the  Negro  at  Charleston  and  Indian ola, 
and  who  had  proclaimed  to  the  race  the  gospel  of  a 
"  square  deal "  and  an  open  door,  is  placed  as  chief 


r  man 
tim  on  A 
apart.  J 
nth  a/ 


ROOSEVELT    AND    THE    NEGRO      307 

among  those  who  breathe  out  hatred  and  slaughter 
against  the  Negro  with  every  vital  breath.     It  is  thA 
law  of  human  passion  that  friendship  which  lapses  J  * 
or  seems   to   lapse  begets    the  bitterest   hate.      The/ 
good  deeds   are  forgotten ;  the  hurtful  act  rankles 
in  the  soul.    A  deliberate  and  candid  judgment  would 
declare  this  attitude  unjust;  but  it  would  be  equally 
uncandid  to  deny  that  it  is  real. 

President  Roosevelt  is  easily  the  most  popular  man, 
in  America.  The  whites  who  join  issue  with  hi 
the  Brownsville  incident  regard  it  as  a  thing  apar 
With  the  Negro  it  overshadows  all  else.  With 
consenting  nod  he  could  have  been  re-elected  President 
almost  by  acclamation.  Not  only  so,  but  he  is  easily 
the  foremost  man  of  all  the  world  to-day.  Had  the 
Peace  Congress  while  sitting  at  The  Hague  ushered 
in  Tennyson's  prophesied  "  Parliament  of  man,  the 
Federation  of  the  world,"  Roosevelt,  by  unanimous 
consent  of  the  participating  nations,  would  have  been 
chosen  speaker  of  this  world-controlling  body.  And 
yet  he  has  so  wounded  his  colored  fellow-citizens  that 
to-day  they  stand  apart  from  this  world  acclaim. 
As  he  treads  the  dizzy  highway  of  universal  fame, 
he  must  feel  a  certain  sad,  unsatisfied  something 
prompting  him  to  become  reconciled  to  his  black 
brother  who  may  justly  have  aught  against  him. 


n/ 


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